Committee on Housing and Buildings meeting
April 20, 2026, 10:00 AM
Jointly with the Committee on Immigration.
The Committee on Housing and Buildings held a joint hearing with the Immigration Committee on tenant harassment against immigrants and the certification of no harassment process, and heard Int 0839, a bill to make that certification more accessible. No votes were taken.
What was discussed
- Opening: examining tenant harassment against immigrants and the future of the CONH program Chairperson Pierina Ana Sanchez opened the joint Housing and Immigration hearing, laying out how immigrant tenants face threats of deportation as a form of harassment and describing her bill, Int 0839, which would make the Certificate of No Harassment (CONH) program permanent, add a rolling
- Opening remarks on immigrant housing vulnerability Chairperson Elsie Encarnación framed the Immigration Committee's interest, citing overcrowding and rent burden among the city's three million immigrants and warning that federal policy and a proposed HUD rule excluding mixed-status families would deepen housing instability.
- Oath administered to administration witnesses Committee counsel swore in the administration witnesses from HPD, MOIA, and DOB before testimony.
- HPD testimony on anti-harassment work and making CONH permanent Deputy Commissioner AnnMarie Santiago testified that HPD, working with CCHR, MOIA, and the Public Engagement Unit, ran a multilingual campaign after landlords threatened to call ICE on tenants, and said HPD supports making CONH permanent with refinements such as recalculating the building
- Is there a formal protocol for HPD and the Commission on Human Rights to collaborate on national-origin harassment claims? Asked by Chairperson Sanchez, Deputy Commissioner Santiago said the agencies have long communicated through tenant-focused programs and that under Executive Order 13 the administration is building more formal multi-agency referral mechanisms.
- What is HPD's protocol if an inspector encounters ICE at a building? Deputy Commissioner Santiago told Chairperson Sanchez this has not happened to her knowledge, and that an inspector encountering an unusual situation is required to contact a supervisor immediately so the agency can decide next steps.
- Why do buildings placed on the CONH list for vacate orders show an unusually high approval rate? Deputy Commissioner Santiago said HPD has no empirical evidence but presumes that buildings under vacate orders simply have a higher need for the covered work that triggers a CONH.
- What would 'regularly updating' the CONH eligibility criteria actually involve? Deputy Commissioner Santiago told Chairperson Sanchez that a refresh would mean re-running the list to add and remove buildings, as HPD has done at the five-year marks, and that the agency is still studying the right cadence.
- Does the CONH program deter landlords from doing necessary repair work? Deputy Commissioner Santiago answered Chairperson Sanchez that needed repairs go forward and that covered work targets major renovations rather than basic repairs, which is why HPD changed the criteria between the 2018 and 2022 pilots.
- Are 30 CONH applications across 1,500 listed buildings too few? Deputy Commissioner Santiago and Assistant Commissioner Tanaya Srini told Chairperson Sanchez that CONH is a deterrence program triggered only when an owner opts to do covered work, making volume hard to predict; they could not yet provide a comparison to covered-work rates citywide but agreed to
- Why does a CONH determination take roughly seven months, and can it be shortened? Deputy Commissioner Santiago attributed the timeline to required public notice, comment, and tenant outreach periods plus past staffing gaps coming out of COVID, and said HPD is filling vacancies and looking to trim administrative time without rushing investigations.
- When organizers surface harassment, how does it translate into accountability for landlords? Deputy Commissioner Santiago told Chairperson Encarnación that Partners in Preservation's 21 community groups refer conditions to HPD code enforcement (inspections, violations, the emergency repair program) while discrimination claims are routed to CCHR and MOIA; Deputy Commissioner Lucero added
- In how many languages can a tenant file an HPD harassment complaint, and what information must they give? Deputy Commissioner Santiago told Chairperson Encarnación that 311 offers Language Line in 100+ languages, that filing requires only a name, apartment, and building address, and that heat and hot-water complaints can be made anonymously.
- Can HPD proactively investigate pilot-list buildings showing repeated complaints? Deputy Commissioner Santiago explained that CONH is an after-the-fact program but HPD's separate Anti-harassment Unit proactively sends inspectors to a similar list of distressed buildings without waiting for complaints, and that programs frequently overlap.
- Where can a tenant report a developer who threatens to call ICE on neighborhood protesters? Council Member Susan Zhuang described a developer threatening protesters with arrest and ICE; Deputy Commissioner Lucero said all New Yorkers have equal housing rights and urged a complaint to the Commission on Human Rights, and Deputy Commissioner Santiago offered to take the complaint if the
- Are immigrant tenants even aware of the CONH program, and is outreach reaching them in-language? Council Member Susan Zhuang warned that non-English-speaking immigrants in her district have no idea the program exists; Deputy Commissioner Santiago said HPD notices buildings, will provide materials in the 10 languages named in the bill, and offers Language Line, while MOIA agreed to follow up on
- How does the CONH process and its criteria work for an immigrant tenant facing harassment? Council Member Rita C. Joseph raised 75 Lennox Road, where security staff and a quick ICE appearance intimidated tenants; Deputy Commissioner Santiago explained the deterrence design and listing criteria and offered to meet with the building's tenant association, and Deputy Commissioner Lucero
- How is HPD addressing severe overcrowding in immigrant housing, and what drives the CONH timeline? Council Member Alexa Avilés pressed on overcrowding and the seven-month determination; Deputy Commissioner Santiago said HPD tries to keep tenants in place and cited statutory outreach periods, and Associate Director Derick Gomez reported 151 housing-related contacts (under 10% of calls) to the MOIA
- What is HPD actually looking for during a CONH harassment investigation? Assistant Commissioner Marti Weithman told Chairperson Sanchez that investigators interview current and former tenants, search city databases, inspect the building, and make HPD's own reasonable-cause assessment rather than relying solely on outside harassment findings.
- How does MOIA define immigration-status-based harassment, and is its outreach staffing enough? Deputy Commissioner Lucero told Chairperson Encarnación that MOIA relies on callers self-identifying and refers conditions to HPD and discrimination to CCHR, and that its outreach team has reached about 61% of pilot-program buildings; Associate Director Gomez said MOIA has no dedicated
Agenda
2 items
- T2026-1405 Oversight - Tenant Harassment against Immigrants and the Certification of No Harassment Program. Hearing Held by Committee
- Int 0839-2026 A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to making the certification of no harassment pilot program permanent and adding criteria for inclusion of certain buildings in the program Hearing Held by Committee