New location selected for Brooklyn Housing Court
Brooklyn’s Housing Court may be preparing for a transition to a new location. The court is slated to move a few blocks away to Brooklyn’s Municipal Building at 210 Joralemon Street.
“It is not completely a done deal, but we are very optimistic about the location,” said Ronald Younkins, executive director of the Office of Court Administration (OCA).
The Housing Court — housed at 141 Livingston St. — has been plagued with complaints, largely due to inadequacy of the building facilities at the Livingston Street location.
“There are so many wrong things in Brooklyn Housing Court that it’s hard to find words,” said Beverly Rivers, a tenant leader with the Flatbush Tenant Coalition. “People are like sardines in a can. The building is too crowded. You’re already nervous about losing your home. You are scared and trying to keep calm and you face a crowd of people, all pressed against each other.”
“This building was not set-up for this kind of usage,” a court officer told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. As to why people were being corralled into limited elevators by line dividers? “This isn’t Supreme Court [at 360 Adams Street],” the court officer said, “…if we did not have structure like this, people would be getting into fights just trying to get into the elevator.”