Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Ceilings on their heads in the Bronx

From CBS 2:

In the Bronx, hundreds of families say they are victims of the high-stakes real estate boom that went bust. An investor bought their buildings, but then stopped taking care of them when the market tanked.

In the last year, Cihanna Castado's apartment has literally started to crumble. There are holes in the ceiling, faucets that won't stop running, and a hazardous, decrepit floor.

Castado blames the condition of her apartment for her son's asthma and her daughter's injuries.

Castado is one of hundreds of tenants at 20 Bronx buildings owned by Ocelot Capital, a firm that gobbled up properties during the real estate boom, only to go bust and stop maintaining them.

Ten of Ocelot Capital's buildings in the Bronx are on the city's list of "worst apartment buildings," racking up more than 5,000 serious housing violations.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

May God bless them. In the meantime, might I suggest a call to your local assemblyman. That is what I had to do when my ceiling met my floor last October.

Thanks to Mr. Gianaris, Assemblyman of Astoria, and his gracious assistant Irene, I still have a home. God bless them both and I don't care who I PO. Credit where credit is due.