Harlem Tenants Protest ‘House of Horrors’
by Craig Willse

Calling their building a "House of Horrors," tenants of 351 St. Nicholas Ave. in Harlem rallied on Halloween evening to protest their landlord’s negligence and building conditions straight out of a fright film. Despite frequent attempts to meet with the landlord, Bill Andrews, and repeated pleas to the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development for help, for years residents have endured terrifying conditions: giant rats, fires, cascading leaks, and long winters with no heat or hot water.

Waving signs proclaiming "Bill Andrews: You don’t scare us" and "No more horror stories," tenants were joined by concerned members of the community and media. Younger residents, dressed in costumes, chanted, "Trick or treat, we want heat."

"We’re making a joke about our situation tonight, but these conditions are very serious," tenant leader Latricia White told the crowd.

"Nobody cleans the building, we have no hot water, no heat, no lock on the front door. I have no super. If something is broken in my home, no one comes to fix it. We want someone in the building to keep it up, to make sure it’s safe," stated tenant Saradis Diaz. During the rally, Diaz also addressed the crowd. Urging tenants and neighbors to stick together through the long battle, she stressed that the horrible conditions their apartments share should serve to bond them together in struggle.

Another resident, Eufracia Mancebo, expressed concern about the safety of tenants. He cited the lack of lights in hallways and the broken elevator as two particularly alarming code violations.

One tenant activist conspicuously absent from the Halloween rally was Elizabeth Hilson. Her daughter, Sheila Echols, explained, "My mother’s been here 28 years. In the last five years, it’s become a building that makes you want to leave the neighborhood. Due to the conditions in the building, my mother has developed TB and is on heavy medications. She is unable to leave the building because we live on the fifth floor and the elevator is broken. After 28 years, she’s trapped in her own apartment."

In recent years, the forces of gentrification have exerted incredible pressure on the low-income families and communities of color that have called Harlem home for decades. While the surrounding blocks feature renovated brownstones renting to wealthy new arrivals, the past decade has witnessed the rapid decline of the once-beautiful building.

"I was born and raised in this building, and I’ve seen this place go from an excellent building to almost abandoned. Over the last few years, it’s gotten to the point where it’s really unlivable. The children can’t play outside because dead rats are being thrown out the window," said White. Longtime Harlem resident and community organizer Marcella Elfe echoed White’s sentiment. "I’ve seen the change, I’ve seen it go from a neighborhood to a rathole."

The history of 351 St. Nicholas Ave. is riddled with greed and deception.

For years, the superintendent, Confessor Sanchez, claimed to be the owner, collecting rent in the building and doing little else. During this time, the actual owner, Usha Persaud, was tucked away safely in Florida while her property fell to shambles. This past summer, a fire deemed suspicious by the Fire Department tore through several apartments, displacing a number of families. Shortly after the fire, Sanchez sold the building--which was not his to sell--to another management company, and then mysteriously disappeared. When that company realized that they had no legal claim to the deed, the removed the boiler they’d recently installed, cutting off all hot water to the building.

When Bill Andrews claimed ownership of 351 last summer, tenants expressed hope that the years of abandonment and disrepair had come to an end. As it turns out, his involvement in the building predated his actual purchase, as he managed the property for the Persaud family, who sold it to him. Andrews rebuked tenant leaders’ request to meet face-to-face to discuss his plans for the building, instead posting notices of termination on almost every single household door. If that alone does not make clear his intention to drive tenants out, the fact that he bricked over the door of one of the burned-out apartments certainly does.

An organized and dedicated bunch, the tenants of 351 have vowed to fight for the safety and sustainability of their homes and neighborhood. The day after the rally, tenants finally met the mysterious Bill Andrews--in court. Housing Court Judge Margaret McGowan ordered Andrews to fix the scores of life-threatening code violations immediately, and tenants plan to make certain he follows through on his legal obligation.

Organizer Marcella Elfe emphasized that the struggle was not only for decent living conditions, but for a life of quality and dignity. "Living in these conditions makes you feel a little inhuman, it tears your pride and roots down. In this day and age, with all we’re going through, we need to see progress."