On January 18, 2018, dozens of tenants of 85 Bowery—including seniors and newborn babies—were kicked out of their homes with only two hours’ notice. After landlord Joseph Betesh intentionally allowed the building to fall apart for years, the tenants were just on the verge of winning a major court ruling in their favor with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal recommending the building be rent stabilized. Only weeks after the recommendation, Betesh colluded with city agencies to have the building declared unsafe and issue an emergency vacate order on the spot. Now the tenants have no home. For almost two years prior to the tenants’ displacement, the City and the Dept. of Housing, Preservation and Development [HPD] did virtually nothing to enforce a court order requiring the landlord to make the needed repairs. But as soon as the landlord himself expressed concern over the unsafe conditions he created, city agencies acted with lightning speed to throw these tenants out of their homes and into the cold. Despite weeks of tenant protests in front of HPD and countless attempts by allies to get the city to take action in the wake of the mass eviction, the City refused to promise to bring the tenants home. On February 8, fearful that the City would continue to allow the landlord to stall endlessly, eight of the tenants—many elderly—began a hunger strike in front of HPD headquarters at 100 Gold street. They camped out there on the sidewalk in the rain and cold without food for five days, demanding the City return them to their home and prosecute this brazenly negligent landlord. Despite successfully pushing Mayor de Blasio’s office to appoint the Commissioner of Community Affairs to directly oversee the landlord’s building-repair process, the Mayor’s Office continues to refuse to commit to a date by which the tenants will be allowed to return home. Joseph Betesh has harassed and intimidated these tenants for years. It’s clear that he can be counted on to do everything in his power to stall and prevent the tenants from returning. Why is Mayor de Blasio—who has promised to preserve affordable housing, fight homelessness, and make New York America’s fairest big city—allowing the landlord to endlessly stall and the tenants to stay homeless? Whose side is he on? Mayor de Blasio: Immediately give the tenants of 85 Bowery a written guarantee specifying a date by which they can return home and enforce it! Don’t collude with negligent landlords and developers: prosecute them!