In October, Amanda Texeira, a young single mother, took her two young kids out of school to get an early life lesson in a real world classroom.

Texeira wanted her kids to know why they hadn’t seen much of her in the past 10 months and why the fridge was barren, so she took them to the Bronx offices of the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) on Fordham Road.

A significant rent hike, approved in 2007 and imposed by the DHCR this past January, was forcing Texeira, a non-unionized teacher at a Harlem charter school, to work nights and weekends to keep up with payments.

“I wanted them to know why mommy isn’t home as much as she should be,” Texeira said. “I wanted them to see what we’ve been fighting against and get that experience.”

Texeira and other tenants at the building, 2720 Grand Concourse, have appealed the imposed increase, which DHCR granted for Major Capital Improvements (or MCIs), because they say it is unwarranted, or at the very least, exorbitant.

MCIs

DHCR grants rent increases at rent-controlled buildings when landlords make MCIs, which include significant renovations (like remodeling every unit’s kitchen) or the replacement of outdated equipment or elements (like new windows). But landlords first must apply to DHCR and provide proof that they’ve done the renovations and paid what they say they’ve paid.

In this case, the building’s landlord, Jacob Selechnik, applied for a $1.5 million MCI increase for replacing the building’s deteriorating roof parapets. Lawyers for the tenants say there is no doubt some work was done, but not $1.5 million worth. In addition, they charge in the appeal, the landlord’s proof of payment was inadequate, there were serious housing violations when it was approved and the parapet’s replacement could have been prevented if the previous landlords would have done the legally required upkeep. (Selechnik didn’t return several calls seeking comment.)

Since February, the DHCR has twice failed to rule on the appeal in the allotted 90-day time period (according to its internal regulations), meaning tenants have had to pay the six percent increase since January. Another six percent hike will kick in at the beginning of the New Year.

In an e-mail last week, Nancy Peters, a spokesperson for the DHCR, said the 2720 appeal “is being processed thoroughly and expeditiously and we expect to have a decision in the next few weeks.” She said the increase is being upheld while the appeal is still being processed because that’s the way the law is written.

Tenants went to the DHCR offices to request a meeting with the agency’s commissioner to talk about their specific case, but they also wanted to highlight, by chanting slogans and carrying signs, some of the DHCR’s failings in general. It was part of a coordinated effort led by the Northwest Bronx and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) and Housing Here and Now, an umbrella organization of housing advocates.

DHCR ‘Broken’

For the past year, Housing Here and Now has tried mostly unsuccessfully to talk with DHCR about implementing systematic reforms for what they feel has become an agency that heavily favors landlords over tenants.

“DHCR has consistently fallen short in its mission of protecting tenants in rent-regulated housing,” said Michelle O’Brien, Housing Here and Now’s executive director. “They have allowed flagrant landlord abuse of rent increases on rent-regulated apartments. They have done far too little to prevent illegal rent overcharges, [including] MCI increases for basic needed repair work caused by landlord negligence.”

In October, tenants held up signs outside DHCR’s Fordham Plaza offices that read, “DHCR is broken.”

Generally speaking, O’Brien says landlords regularly abuse the MCI system by applying for rent increases for repair work “that simply brings their property into compliance” with the housing code. And DHCR often approves it, according to Housing Here and Now. For example, DHCR granted an MCI increase at a Manhattan building, 163 Starr St., when the landlord installed smoke detectors.

Judith Goldiner of the Legal Aid Society says the biggest problem is that many tenants don’t know their rights when it comes to rent increases.

O’Brien says this is because the DHCR doesn’t educate tenants. For instance, the agency notifies tenants that an MCI increase has been filed. But, as was the case at 2720, tenants don’t understand the process and didn’t start fighting it until after it was approved.

Also, if the DHCR’s 90-day window for ruling on appeals passes (which it has twice), tenants are supposed to assume the DHCR’s original ruling stands. It’s up to tenants to file for an extension if they’re not satisfied.

DHCR receives about 120 MCI applications from landlords every month and at least 90 percent of them are approved (at least partially), according to Peters. But the DHCR doesn’t usually go to a building to inspect the work that’s been done unless tenants complain, Peters said, adding that the agency had done more inspections under its current commissioner than the previous one.

Reinforcements

“[Not reacting before the MCI was granted] was our fault,” said Dino Rossi, a former activist who’s led the exhaustive fight to overturn the MCI at 2720. “But that doesn’t mean our argument isn’t valid.”

To help tenants make that argument, Rossi enlisted organizers at the NWBCCC and lawyers from the Urban Justice Center (UJC). Over the summer, the UJC tapped Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, a national law firm based in Manhattan to take the case on pro bono.

“We’re lucky to have all this help,” Rossi said recently. “It makes me sad and depressed when I think about all the tenants who aren’t organized and are being victimized.”

In October, two days after the protest at the DHCR, Stroock lawyers filed a final argument with DHCR enumerating the reasons why the MCI should overturned, or at the very least modified “to just and equitable standards.”

At the DHCR’s offices in October, a case worker met with Texeira, her two kids and a couple of NWBCCC advocates. Candidly, he told them appeals usually take about a week, but if the agency puts it on the back-burner, it can take five or 10 years. (Officially, DHCR wouldn’t say how long it usually takes, how many tenant appeals they receive or how many are granted.)

Texeira, who shares her story of hardship with dozens of other tenants at 2720, walked away a little discouraged, but glad she’d made the trip with her two kids. Out in front of the agency’s office building, her son Leonardo proudly held up a sign reading: “The DHCR took our Mommy.”