Years-long backlog has created 'housing court hell,' some New Yorkers on verge of bankruptcy

The effects of the COVID pandemic are still lingering in an unlikely place - New York City Housing Court.

Many people are calling it "housing court hell" as they experience delays and backups that are pushing them to verge of bankruptcy.

What they thought would take months to get a resolution in court has turned into years. That's partly because the courts are still dealing with a backlog of cases and limited resources since the pandemic.

"I think the justice system needs to be adjusted," said a tearful Sandra Claxton, sitting inside her Bronx home.

"The system's supposed to be fair, but it's not fair," she said.

She worked for decades as a nurse to buy her retirement home in the Bronx, a home she's now afraid of losing.

"It's very stressful, very stressful," Claxton said.

Claxton's home has a second floor apartment that she has been leasing out to help cover costs. But Claxton said her tenant hasn't paid rent in more than two years.

Claxton took her to housing court and won but the tenant is still living in her home all these years later.

"I called the clerk and the clerk told me the warrant hasn't been signed by the judge so they cannot do anything about it," Claxton said.

She had to wait more than a year after winning her case for the judge to sign off on the eviction warrant, and she's now waiting for a marshal to execute the warrant.

"After I finished paying the mortgage, I hardly have anything left," Claxton said.

Meanwhile, she's responsible for paying all of the bills and utilities or the tenant could take her to court.

"She's the one in trouble, the one not paying and she's getting a free pass," Claxton said.

Henry Ocasio, a non-profit housing advocate with Neighborhood Initiatives Development Corporation, says there are hundreds of people in a similar situation.

"It's mindboggling why it's taking so long," Ocasio said.

It's not just a problem in the Bronx but across the city.

We found an average eviction in New York City takes two years. And landlords say a warrant takes at least six months to execute.

"It's two years out from the pandemic and we're still seeing this very slow process," Ocasio said. "Meanwhile people are really struggling."

The delays have been so bad in Queens a group of property owners got together and sued the Queens Court Administrator to try and speed up the process.

"This is incredibly rare action," said Craig Gambardella of Kucker Marino Winiarsky & Bittens who represents the landlords.

"Upon filing this lawsuit things started moving in the right direction with respect to staffing in Queens County," Gambardella said.

In response to the lawsuit, court records show the court administrator said they've been dealing with the "monumental" task of clearing an almost two year backlog from the pandemic, and have had a shortage of housing court judges, court attorneys and other staff shortages.

"It's unacceptable," said Senator Brad Hoyman-Sigal who is the chair of the state senate judiciary committee.

He said constant complaints have led to five new housing court judges being added over the last few weeks but the courts are still struggling to find qualified people to replace those who resigned or retired during the pandemic.

"Justice delayed is justice denied and that's exactly what we're seeing in New York City Housing Court," he said.

For small homeowners like Sandra Claxton, the improvements couldn't happen soon enough.

"I hope there's a resolution soon so I can live in peace," Claxton said.

Eyewitness News requested interviews with both the Supervising Judge and Administrative Judge of NYC Civil Court. Instead the Office of Court Administration sent a statement:

"The Unified Court System continues to work to address delays in housing court. To that end, UCS leadership recently worked with our government partners to create five additional housing court judgeships, increasing their ranks to 55 from 50. Those five new judges were just seated this past August and September and are on the bench now working with additional court attorneys that were hired to assist in the efficient disposition of these cases."

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