Meredith Wattle '25

Communities Resist is a nonprofit housing law organization that primarily focuses on collective tenant action. CORE's clients are, typically, tenants' associations and their individual members. CORE handles almost every type of case within the sphere of NYC landlord-tenant law. Many of the cases I worked on were HP Proceedings, which is a type of special proceeding created in Housing Court for tenants to bring cases against their landlords for failing to make necessary repairs. Many of these HP cases also involve harassment by the landlord, issues of de facto rent stabilization, etc. CORE also handles unique cases like Article 7A proceedings, which allow a government administrator to take over the management of an apartment building in order to collect rent and conduct repairs, when the owner of the building has egregiously neglected their duties as a landlord.

My work at CORE has involved a lot of motion practice, as I asked my supervisor to allow me to focus on drafting. As such, at this point I've written several Orders to Show Cause, Motions for Contempt, to Compel, for Summary Judgment, etc. I've also drafted stipulations, inspection requests, subpoenas, and other documents as needed. I've also had some great opportunities to play legal detective when it comes to researching landlords.  I was identifying their real estate portfolios, examining the declared versus actual occupancy status of their buildings, tracking their interactions with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development's inspection services, etc. Throughout each case, I also interfaced with clients in the course of negotiating settlements and obtaining information.

I've also been accompanying my supervising attorney to Housing Court, which, as someone who has spent many hours in Buffalo's Housing Court, has been eye-opening, to say the least. I've been absolutely thrilled by the work environment at CORE, and the passion/kindness of everyone working here, but the landlords' attorneys at Brooklyn Housing Court are another story entirely. In Buffalo, and as my classes at UB have described, opposing counsel largely maintained professional respect for each other. The same cannot be said whatsoever of the landlord attorneys in Brooklyn. But their open and often personal hostility was more than outweighed by the amazing people I got to work with at CORE. 

I was tremendously impacted by seeing a different world of landlord-tenant law that contrasts so remarkably with what I experienced in Buffalo/Erie County. Upon arriving here, I was astonished to learn that Brooklyn has a specific Part of Housing Court designated for tenants to bring actions against their landlords for failing to make repairs, for harassment, etc. My colleagues lamented that there is only one Part dedicated for this purpose, as compared to the many Parts for eviction cases-evidencing the unequal dynamics of Housing Court-but I was just amazed that such a feature existed at all. In contrast, during my time in Buffalo Housing Court, the idea of tenants bringing cases against their landlords was essentially unheard of. If a Buffalo tenant were to sue their landlord, it would have to be in civil court, and there was little infrastructure to aid them in this task. Whereas NYC has the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which can inspect units and issue violations and is, from what I saw, relatively responsive and available.  They are automatic participants in Housing Part cases.  Buffalo does not have remotely the same (proportionate) level of code infrastructure. Usually, the only repair or habitability issues that I saw addressed to any extent in Buffalo Housing Court involved extremely serious matters such as proof of severe lead poisoning in a tenant's child from lead paint.

On the tenant organizing side of things, I was also struck by the markedly different attitudes of many of our clients towards the idea of collective tenant action. In Buffalo, especially as someone who participated in tenant organizing, I had long observed what I felt was a sense of defeatism. When landlords broke the law, many tenants felt (often rightfully so) afraid to challenge those illegal actions, and especially not collectively. In Brooklyn, many clients were eager to form tenant associations, eager to bring their landlords to court, eager to engage in rent strikes and do whatever would be most effective in protecting their right to a quality home.

My time here gave me a glimpse into what a more robust structure of landlord-tenant law can look like, and how important community attitudes can be in protecting tenant rights. As much as the deck is still stacked against tenants even here in NYC, much of what I've seen has been nothing short of revelatory.

Thank you to the donors of the Professor Virginia A. Leary Memorial Fellowship.  I promise that I am not exaggerating when I say that this internship has changed the course of my career and my life, and I could not have done it without this financial support. Not only have I gained invaluable insight into the area of public interest law that I am most passionate about, but I hope (if I am so fortunate) that I might have found the place to begin building my career as an attorney. I can absolutely see myself working at CORE after graduation, and in fact, I desperately hope I do! One of the more long-term goals that this internship has illuminated for me is the potential to bring some more aspects of NYC's housing law infrastructure and practice home to Buffalo. As someone who has glimpsed housing law practice in both places, I now have a vision of what a better Buffalo might look like, and how to get there. Yes, NYC is vastly different than Buffalo in many ways, with housing problems of an incomparable scale and complexity. But in other ways, the work of tenant attorneys and organizers in NYC can provide the creative blueprint for making my hometown a better place to live. A friend in Buffalo once remarked that Buffalo is just three real estate companies in a trenchcoat- a wry joke about the power of local landlords, but now I see hope in that observation. If tenants' rights can be improved even in the face of the tidal wave of power that represents NYC landlords, three real estate companies in a trenchcoat doesn't seem like such an insurmountable force.