Carlos Junca, a member of Make the Road NY,  shared that due to flooding from Hurricane Ida’s remnants in September, his landlord is pushing him after demanding a $1,000 rental increase in Woodside apartment. He believes his landlord is capitalizing on the natural disaster to renovate and rent out the apartment at a higher rate.

“For six years, I rented a semi-basement in a two-family house in Queens. Although the pandemic brought us a very difficult situation, and I struggled to keep up with my rent payments, I have been paying with all the savings I had, and trying to find any job to continue paying. Although I have paid and been a good tenant, I find myself being displaced and without protections and the Hurricane was an opportunity to get me out,” Junca said. “As COVID is settling and more people want to rent in the city, landlords are taking advantage of opportunities to rent to people who can pay more. This is unfair! I stayed here in NY during the pandemic and paid my rent and now they take me out of my home to charge more.”