The Fight for Francis’s Home at 972 Park

July 17, 2023

Amadi Ozier (Crown Heights Tenant Union, Crown Heights CARE Collective)

At 972 Park Place in Crown Heights, 78-year-old Francis Roberts has endured what can only be described as a campaign of terror waged by his landlord, Yehuda Gruenberg. After Francis refused a buyout for his rent-stabilized, park-side brownstone apartment, Gruenberg and his associates launched a relentless and increasingly bizarre effort to push him out. For nearly a year, Francis lived under siege. His apartment was broken into. Locks and doors were destroyed. Tents and port-o-potties blocked his front door. Loud music blared around the clock. Associates grilled food in the hallway, threatened Francis and his neighbors, and even locked him inside his own home. One associate told a neighbor they were sent to “get that n----- out of his unit.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence and community testimony, the Housing Court refused to issue a money judgment or a finding of harassment against Gruenberg. The judge acknowledged that this was one of the most extreme cases she had ever encountered but still failed to hold the landlord accountable. It’s a devastating reminder of how much the legal system prioritizes landlord profit over tenant safety and dignity. I

Francis’s experience is not an isolated case. Thousands of Black, brown, working-class, and elderly tenants across New York City are subjected to landlord violence and neglect, especially in neighborhoods like Crown Heights where real estate speculation is driving out long-time residents. Francis has lived in his home for 25 years. In April 2022, Gruenberg bought the building for $1.3 million through an LLC, hoping to empty it and flip it for profit. When Francis wouldn’t take the buyout, Gruenberg escalated. He hired a known Chabad community outcast and drug dealer, Aaron Akaberi, to move into the building and serve as an enforcer. As one of Akaberi’s own associates admitted on video, “He gets his orders from the landlord, and then he does what he has to do.”

When Francis went to court, he was represented by the Tenant Rights Coalition at LSNYC. He sued Gruenberg for harassment and demanded repairs. Though the judge ordered the landlord to make repairs, she offered no damages to Francis—no money to replace broken furniture, no judgment to reflect the trauma he had endured, and no accountability for the campaign to remove him. As Francis put it: “What more does it take for me to assert my rights to live in peace? If asserting my rights means making a ruckus, then that is my political position.”

That ruckus is growing. Thanks to organizing by neighbors, tenant groups, and community safety teams, Francis has not had to fight alone. In August 2022, neighbors from eight buildings on the block co-wrote a letter to Gruenberg describing the deplorable conditions and expressing concern for Francis’s safety. Gruenberg denied responsibility. But neighbors kept pushing. They reactivated the 900s Park Place Block Association with support from the Crown Heights Tenant Union (CHTU) and the Crown Heights Care Collective (CHCC). They organized canvasses and rallies. They did what the NYPD and HPD refused to do—secured the home, checked on elders, and de-escalated dangerous situations.

By December, city agencies finally began to respond. Gruenberg was pressured to remove the tents and shanty structures blocking Francis’s stoop. His building manager began pushing Akaberi to move out. And thanks to community fundraising, Francis was able to secure funds for a storage unit, bedroom furniture, a new twin mattress, repairs to damaged living room items, and veterinary care for his beloved cat, Trixie.

This victory was not handed down by the courts or delivered by elected officials. It came from below. It came from people showing up. Thirty neighbors on a cold night. A hundred at a rally. A thousand conversations. This is what tenant power looks like.

Across the city, there are tens of thousands of warehoused rent-stabilized units and thousands of tenants like Francis, fighting to stay safe in their homes. The NYPD won’t protect us. HPD won’t enforce basic standards of habitability. Mayor Eric Adams’s administration justified the largest rent hikes in a decade to protect “small landlords” like Gruenberg.

If you want to build a tenant safety team or block association on your street, contact the Crown Heights CARE Collective or Crown Heights Tenant Union. All neighbors welcome. Our safety lies in solidarity, and our power lies in each other.