Requiring the department of housing preservation and development to increase tenant relocation services in the event of a vacate order.

This bill would require the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to dispatch a team of tenant relocation specialists to a building when a vacate order has been issued. These specialists will provide any displaced tenants with assistance including materials in the tenants’ preferred language, and, if deemed safe, assistance with accessing the tenants’ vacated units. It would also require HPD to begin an Article 7-A proceeding to appoint an administrator to oversee building repairs where tenants have been forced out due to harmful conditions and the building owner has not corrected such conditions in the time specified in the vacate order. Finally, this bill would require that landlords, where applicable, to notify tenants if they have a right to re-occupy the vacated unit.