Isaac Hirsch and JIH Builders Stop the Evictions and Harassment of The Tenants of 693 Madison Street

Isaac Hirsch and JIH Builders: Stop the Evictions and Harassment of The Tenants of 693 Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn 

We, the undersigned, are supporters of The 693 Madison Street Tenants Association and demand that Isaac Hirsch and JIH Builders cease all forms of tenant harassment.

In 2017, JIH Builders became relentless in their effort to push out low-to-middle income tenants out of  693 Madison Street in order to rent to people with higher incomes. While many tenants did leave, several tenants chose to resist and formed The 693 Madison Street Tenants Association. The 693 Madison Street Tenants Association is demanding that Isaac Hirsch and JIH Builders immediately end the mass evictions and all forms of tenant harassment!

Tenant Harassment is against the law! For example, JIH Builders has targeted one Black family which includes a grandmother, an infant, and a toddler. The family are long-time Brooklyn residents who moved to 693 Madison Street three years ago. Despite multiple attempts to pay their June and July 2017 rent online, through credit cards and by cashier check, Isaac Hirsch refused to not take their payments. Instead, JIH Builders falsely took this family to court in August 2017 for non-payment.

JIH Builders has also used other illegal tactics of harassment to punish the remaining 693 Madison Street tenants in an effort to force them out of their apartments including:

• Breaking into apartments, changing the locks and illegally locking out tenant leaders
•  In freezing temperatures going without hot water for over 4 days
• Round the clock, non-stop construction on vacant apartments
• The use of industrial paint with fumes so toxic that an ambulance had to be called for a grandmother and two children 
• Restricting access to the basement with a combination lock on the door so tenants are unable to check meter readings. As a result, the gas and electric bills are higher than average
•  The incessant blaring of the roof door alarm day and night after a JIH Builders worker came to fix the broken door
• Sending 30-day notices to vacate
• Refusal to issue new leases
• Daily calls telling the tenants they must move

We the undersigned stand with The 693 Madison Street Tenants Association and demand JIH Builders cease all tenant harassment and the mass evictions.

We also call upon the community to contact Isaac Hirsch to tell him tenant harassment is a crime and that they must stop the mass evictions at 693 Madison Street:

Isaac Hirsch
President and CEO
JIH Builders Group LLC
389 Willoughby Ave. Suite #207
Brooklyn NY 11205
P. 718-522-2750 Ext. 101
F. 866-200-8530
C. 347-489-5479
E. isaach@jihbuilders.com
www.jihbuilders.com

For more on the struggle: See Equality for Flatbush's New Video: Support the 693 Madison Street Tenant Assoc against JIH Builders Group LLC (JIH): https://youtu.be/VOlNEMYfURg

Video shot and Edited by Nadeem Salaam of Elev Trax @elevtrtrax

BEFORE IT'S GONE // TAKE IT BACK: Documenting Brooklyn - Fighting Gentrification is a Brooklyn-wide project of Equality for Flatbush www.equalityforflatbush.org  To get involved in this campaign and our other anti-displacement work contact :  B4G@equalityforflatbush.org or call /text (646)820-6039

Follow these hashtags for Action Alerts for 693 Madison Street:
#BedStuy, #Brooklyn #MYNYCLandlord #NoEvictionZone #Beforeitsgone #TakeitBack #JIHBuilders #693MadisonStreet #TenantsFightBack