In a editorial, District 4 Hudson County commissioner candidate Dr. Aaron Weiner makes the case that Jersey City has the power to stop slumlords through rent receivership.
Every tenant organizer in Jersey City knows the building. The boiler fails in November and it stays broken into the spring.
Apartments with no hot water, no electricity. Ceiling leaks turning into mold. If the code compliance gets involved, a notice is given, the fine either gets paid or ignored, and nothing gets fixed.
That building is not a failure of management, it’s a strategy: Let a rent-controlled building decay until the families give up. Empty it, renovate, and re-rent at market rates, or sell it vacant for a premium…