New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin has announced a notice of violation for a Jersey City landlord who didn’t fix a broken elevator in his building for more than eight months.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
The New Jersey Division of Civil Rights has issued a Notice of Violation to Let’s Celebrate Urban Renewal, LLC, the owner of a six-story building located at 503 Garfield Ave.
The Notice of Violation alleges that the building’s owner has failed to adequately address the elevator outage or provide reasonable accommodations for residents with disabilities in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD).
“No one should face harm from a housing provider because they have a disability. In New Jersey, that’s against the law,” Platkin said in a statement.
“Laws only work when they are enforced, and we’re determined to ensure that our residents benefit from the protections granted by the Law Against Discrimination.”
The LAD prohibits housing providers from discriminating against residents on the basis of an actual or perceived disability.
Under the LAD, it is also unlawful for a housing provider to refuse to make reasonable accommodations or reasonable structural modifications necessary to ensure that a resident with a disability has an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
“Our civil rights laws require housing providers to provide reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. That means, at a bare minimum, that a housing provider must work with residents to ensure that they can safely enter and exit their apartments,” added Division of Civil Rights Director Sundeep Iyer.
“Combating housing discrimination remains a core priority for our office, and we will continue to expand our efforts to ensure that every New Jerseyan can access housing free from discrimination.”
DCR’s investigation found that 503 Garfield Avenue’s sole elevator has been inoperable since approximately November 2023.
Accessing the building’s sixth floor requires taking over 80 steps up. Since the outage, some tenants with disabilities have been unable to leave their apartment floors for over eight months.
The investigation found that building management knew or should have known that several tenants required reasonable accommodations during the elevator outage, but that it did not provide appropriate reasonable accommodations for these tenants.
The announcement came less than 24 hours after Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), a declared candidate for Jersey City mayor, held a press conference demanding elevator repairs at 630 Bergen Ave., who hasn’t had a fully functioning elevator for around two years.
At the event, he also mentioned he would be rallying for residents at 2555 John F. Kennedy Blvd. and 503 Garfield Ave., who are experiencing similar issues. This morning, he expressed gratitude for the state’s swift action.
“My office reached out and we’re pleased with not only the quickness their office responded, but their action to ensure that this dire situation where seniors have been held captive in their homes for many months. He’s gone above and beyond what you’d expect a law enforcement official to do in this situation,” he told HCV.