New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced an agreement with the owners of the Esplanade Senior Residences in White Plains, who will pay 139 of their former residents a total of $528,367 in reparations.
Last November, the owners of the Esplanade sent eviction notices to their 139 residents with plans of repurposing the building from a senior living facility into a luxury apartment complex.
According to Schneiderman, the Esplanade owners had been planning to vacate and transform the property since 2014, but had not notified tenants until the November 2015 eviction notice was sent.
The Esplanade owners will pay variable amounts to former residents, based on when they moved into the building, with those who moved in during 2014 and 2015 receiving the highest compensation. The owners had previously paid $14,382 to certain residents to cover moving expenses.
“This agreement will help the residents cover some of the expenses they incurred in having to make an unanticipated move from a facility where they expected to live out their remaining years,” Schneiderman said in a released statement.
State lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would prevent similar wholesale evictions of seniors, outlawing the termination or non-renewal of leases for residents who are disabled or 65 or older in buildings predominantly occupied by seniors without court approval, and would also regulate their annual rent increase. The bill is sponsored in the state Senate by Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Yonkers Democrat, and is being co-sponsored in the state Assembly by Democratic Assembly members Shelly Mayer, of Yonkers, and David Buchwald, of White Plains.
“I think [the settlement] conveys the seriousness of the issue to all sides—both to seniors and their families, but also to property owners—that they need to respect their tenants, particularly if vulnerable populations are involved,” Buchwald told the Review.
