The city has reached a $2.25 million settlement with a notorious pair of Crown Heights slumlords who attempted to evict tenants during the pandemic in violation of the state’s eviction moratorium, and who reportedly operated an illegal hotel operation for several years.
The $2.25 million settlement against Gennaro Brooks-Church and Loretta Gendville — “eco-yogi slumlords” as the mayor’s office deemed them — is the largest in city history relating to illegal short-term rentals. The terms of the settlement will compel Brooks-Church and Gendville to turn over their brownstone at 1214 Dean Street, valued by the mayor’s office at $2 million, to be converted into affordable housing, and to pay $250,000 in fines.
