Public advocate unveils NYC’s landlord shame list, warns budget cuts could make it worse

New York Public Advocate Jumaane Williams unveiled 2023’s worst landlord list as pending budget cuts threaten to curtail enforcement of housing laws and a bill to help shine light on building ownership awaits the governor’s signature.

New York’s annual shaming of landlords with a large number of building and housing violations included many familiar names this year, including Daniel Ohebshalom, Johnathan Santana and Michael Niamonitakis. Combined, the 100 names on the list amassed an average of 739 violations each for a total of 73,866 violations, a 7% increase over last year.

Williams faulted staff shortages at the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development for a slowdown in responding to non-emergency violations.

“I think there's a problem with capacity,” Williams said at a press conference on Wednesday. “I think with some of the budget cuts that have been proposed, it is going to only worsen and we may see more of some of the horrors that we've seen in the past.”

Mayor Eric Adams has called for steep budget cuts to deal with increased spending on migrant care and the loss of federal pandemic aid. According to the annual Mayor’s Management Report, the response time to non-emergency complaints has increased 85% over the last five years while the number of complaints has increased 21%.

Santana topped this year's list with 3,293 violations, followed by David Tennenbaum with 2,416, Larry Hirschfield with 1,394, Sima Abdavies with 1,372, and Alfred Thompson with 1,341.

Calls to the landlords' lawyers were not immediately returned. The landlord group Community Housing Improvement Program declined to comment on this year’s list.

Williams pointed to the recent building collapse in the Bronx to illustrate how damaging a landlord’s negligence can be. That building’s owner, 1915 Realty LLC, lists Yonah Roth as its head officer. Roth is affiliated with another landlord, Jacob Zanger, who ranks 50th on the worst landlord list, according to Williams.

Williams unveiled the list on the stoop of 410 46th St., a property owned by Ohebshalom, who was recently fined $4.2 million and had his building taken over by HPD in order to carry out repairs that tenants say were ignored for years.

John Reeds, 56, led the fight to have the city take over as the building's administrator. He said the city currently faces an epidemic of predatory landlords.

“These landlords are motivated by one thing and one thing alone, and that is greed,” he said at the press conference. “Take the damn buildings away from the slumlords.”

Reeds said his apartment is rent stabilized and that he paid between $1,000 and $2,000 a month in rent. He said many of the vacant units had become havens for squatters and drug activity until the city stepped in and took over through a process known as 7A.

“I think that this kind of thing needs to happen more often,” Reeds said. “They're going to do a renovation of this building and do the long-needed repairs. During this, the management is not allowed in the building.”

State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal pointed to a bill pending in Albany called the Limited Liability Corporation Transparency Act. Hoylman-Sigal said that would help the city and tenants hold neglectful landlords accountable by untangling a property’s true ownership. The bill made it through the state Legislature in June, but Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet to sign it into law.

“That would help tenants and city agencies better identify the landlords who hide behind anonymous LLCs,” Hoylman-Sigal said.

Correction: A previous version of this article included a name that was not on the 2023 list. It has been removed.