It’s a Sunday evening and Jennifer (one of our volunteers) and I (Sandhya) step off the train in Coney Island to walk toward our destination. We enjoy the carnival-like atmosphere of the boardwalk and the beach as we walk toward our destination — the Russian Community Life Center in Brighton Beach.
This new program in Brighton Beach is our first expansion of the services we at Brooklyn Jubilee have been providing at a food pantry in Park Slope, where we answer questions about housing and public assistance and provide free legal advice. The Russian Community Life Center operates a gospel-motivated community center in the heart of Brighton Beach, where Russian-speaking residents can take English and citizenship classes and find other services.
Walking into that neighborhood is a little like traveling to another city. There are shops with mysterious foods I’ve never seen, store signs in Russian, goods sold in Russian-language-only packaging, because no English is needed within these city blocks.
On this night we are offering our first open legal clinic for tenants to ask us their housing questions. The staff at the center have let their regular patrons know we’ll be here, so some of them have been anticipating our presence there.
The first person we speak with is a senior citizen who can’t get repairs — such as a fully-functioning stove — in her apartment. We speak to her by phone, because she can’t get away from work. But she knows we’re coming that night, and calls the Director Leslie McMillan on her phone so she can speak to us.
A lot of tenants in her situation face a terrible dilemma when they need repairs. She lives in a small, privately-owned building, and hasn’t had a written lease in many years. That means she’s month-to-month, and either party can end the relationship on 30 days’ notice, for no reason at all. So complaining about repairs gives her landlord lots of motivation to evict her. She’s a senior citizen and doesn’t want to move. But she’d like to have a working stove. What to do?
It’s not legal for the landlord to retaliate against her for complaining, but it’s pretty easy for him to convince a judge that he had other motivations — even if he didn’t. With Leslie interpreting, we explain her options for getting repairs, but also make sure she understands that her landlord could try to evict her for complaining. I hate giving this advice, but I am not doing her any favors by letting her get blind-sided, or by letting her feel empowered, only to be shocked when the eviction papers are taped to her door. She is extremely appreciative, effusive even, though we certainly didn’t tell her what she wanted to hear. It feels odd to accept her thanks, but I’ve been here before.
A pregnant woman walks in. Through much effort, and our interpreter’s help, we discover she’s afraid her landlord will evict her once she gives birth. The landlord apparently did not expect children in this apartment. Even though her lease runs through spring, she’s worried he could kick her and her newborn baby out in the dead of winter. We assure her it’s illegal to evict tenants for having children in New York City, and that she’ll get to live out her lease with her baby, although she may have to move if he doesn’t want to renew her lease. She is also very appreciative of the advice, advice that seems so basic to me. I am mildly shocked at how little she understands of her most basic protections in NYC. We give her contact information for the city Human Rights Commission, in case she runs into trouble after the baby’s born.
These are the strange joys of a justice ministry like Brooklyn Jubilee. We speak to people who are in the dark, and looking for a guide. And even when the torch lights up an unfortunate path, they’re usually still grateful for directions.
