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An intimate portrait of rapid gentrification and skyrocketing rent costs in “Slumlord Millionaire” on VOCES – July 28 at 10 pm
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“Slumlord Millionaire”
PREMIERES ON PBS AND PBS.ORG ON MONDAY, JULY 28 AT 10:00 PM
Winner of the Audience Award at the 2024 DOC NYC Film Festival, “Slumlord Millionaire” explores the rapid gentrification of New York City neighborhoods and the housing crisis sweeping not only New York but the nation. Median rents nationwide are higher than ever, and, in Manhattan, the average rent is now almost $5,000 per month. As rents increase, some landlords have become aggressive in getting long-term tenants to leave: ignoring repairs, turning off heat and gas, and doing nothing to eliminate mold and vermin infestations. The landlord’s goal is to make the apartment so uninhabitable that residents are forced out, allowing them to deregulate the apartment and turn it over to market rate for a high profit. These actions drive up costs in the already unaffordable housing market and displace families who make up the fabric of these neighborhoods, changing communities forever.
The film explores New York’s affordable housing crisis through four unforgettable stories:
- The Bravo Family in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, have been in a fierce battle with their landlord for 15 years, defending their right to live in an apartment safe from mold, lead, flooding, and freezing temperatures. When the landlord refused to remove mold in their bathroom, which gave their children severe asthma, they fought back. Their testimony helped pass the “Asthma Free Housing Act,” statewide legislation requiring New York landlords to eliminate mold in apartments with children. But their battles with their abusive and neglectful landlord continue.
- Manhattan’s historic Chinatown has been fighting gentrification for generations, but four looming luxury “Megatowers” may be the neighborhood’s biggest threat. In one old building, a group of longtime residents are organizing to fight to stay in their homes. While their landlord ignores their requests for basic maintenance, he fully renovates the vacant apartments in the building and then rents these new “luxury” units for thousands. The film follows these and other Chinatown residents as they mobilize with community partners to try to stop the new towers, which, if built, will continue the displacement of tenants who fear their beloved community will disappear forever.
- In the 1990s, Janina Davis was a successful supermodel, gracing the cover of Vogue and traveling the world. In 1998, she bought a brownstone in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, renting
two units at a fair price and planning to develop her back lot into even more affordable apartments. She contacted a developer, who created blueprints, and that is when her life turned upside down. What appeared to be a standard business transaction was a highly sophisticated deed theft scam. She filed a court case, but the “developer” insisted that he now legally owned her home. In the film, lawyers fighting to protect clients from a rampant deed scam epidemic explain the systemic failures that allow this to continue, particularly in historically Black and Brown neighborhoods, robbing families of the right to home ownership and generational wealth.
- Moumita Ahmed is a Bangladeshi-American activist who lives with her parents in a rent-stabilized apartment in Jamaica, Queens. Her family knows what it is like to be harassed and exploited by bad landlords and she has lived with this uncertainty her entire life. Inspired by Bernie Sanders, Moumita ran for City Council in 2021 to hold corrupt landlords accountable and stop tenant harassment throughout the city. But as the only renter on the ballot, she faced an unprecedented fight. Developers hoping to build in Queens were threatened by her tenacity, and, as she rose in the polls, they invested over a million dollars into a PAC that spent money on attack ads targeting her campaign.