For the past 30 years, Habitat for Humanity has transforms lives and communities in Brooklyn by working with families in need in building quality, affordable homes.
However, in one area of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the organization recently has come under fire for what has been deemed as development so aggressive, it inadvertently has forced the eviction of some tenants, even leaving some of them homeless.
Though the properties were purportedly long vacant, a ProPublica investigation published last week found that seven tenants were actually pressured to leave shortly before the charity moved to buy them, according to The Daily News.
Tenants Tashemia Tyson and Roslyn Reed say they were pushed to leave apartments to make way for Habitat, ProPublica reported. Tyson, a single mother of three, now lives in a shelter in the Bronx. Reed and her family lost their rent-controlled apartment just four days before their building owner accepted an offer from Habitat.
City Councilmember Robert Cornegy, who represents the district affected by the displacement, now is calling for immediate restitution for the families:
"The only way for Habitat to rehabilitate itself is to restore these families to at least the stability they previously enjoyed," Cornegy said in a statement.
