Last spring, a portfolio of buildings in the northwest Bronx caught the attention of housing advocates due to an onslaught of complaints from tenants who described horrendous living conditions.

The properties were owned by Milbank Real Estate, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles that purchased the buildings during the boom times with a risky $35 million mortgage. In 2009, Milbank defaulted on the loan, sending the properties into foreclosure proceedings. The buildings are now in the hands of a servicer, LNR Property Corp., which has been looking to sell them to a new owner.

Since foreclosure began, Milbank tenants have seen conditions in their homes deteriorate.  The 10 properties have over 3,000 housing violations among them—rodents, mold infestations, leaking ceilings and rotting floors are the norm. For months, at protest rallies, prayer vigils and in the courts, these tenants, with the support of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, have pleaded for help to make their homes livable again.

But there’s some good news.  Last week, HPD announced that it would step up its game by conducting more thorough inspections, and then repairing the worst violations and putting liens on the properties. Essentially this means – or could mean – that the buildings will be turned around. It’s about time, and we urge our elected officials to ensure the agency makes good on its promise. 

Of course, Milbank isn’t the only landlord to treat Bronx housing as a mere commodity, rather than as a service essential to people’s health and well-being. They were only one in a rash of private equity financing of Bronx buildings over the last several years.

HPD and city officials need to keep a close eye on all of these over-leveraged properties so that the Milbank disaster and its effects on thousands of Bronxites will never be repeated.