The Civic Issue
Landlords harass rent-stabilized tenants to force them out — cutting heat, refusing repairs, threatening eviction, making life unlivable to clear apartments for market-rate rents. The city funds Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection at $7.6M (per policy announcement), and proposed state bill S8559 would make aggravated tenant harassment a class D felony.
Headline Spending
$7.6M
identifiable in budget
Budget Lines (Adopted)
$13.3M
8 lines
Vendor Spending
$135.9K
2 vendors
| Line | Adopted | Spent |
|---|---|---|
HOUSING LITIGATION BUREAU AHR OFFICE OF HOUSING PRESERVATION | $2.3M | $1.5M |
Tenant Harassment Protection _ CD OFFICE OF HOUSING PRESERVATION | $568.8K | $219.2K |
Tenant Harassment Protection _ TL OFFICE OF HOUSING PRESERVATION | $345.2K | $139.1K |
STABILIZE NYC - URBAN JUSTICE OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT OTPS | $3.7M | $2.2M |
HOUSING LITIGATION BUREAU- OFFICE OF HOUSING PRESERVATION | $5.3M | $3.6M |
Division Housing Litigation - TL OFFICE OF HOUSING PRESERVATION | $584.6K | $341.9K |
HOUSING LITIGATION BUREAU LEAD LL#1 - CD OFFICE OF HOUSING PRESERVATION | $572.5K | $367.3K |
Lower East Side Tenant Harassment OFFICE OF HOUSING PRESERVATION | $0 | $0 |
| URBAN JUSTICE CENTER | $20.9K | 1 txns |
| THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY | $115.0K | 1 txns |
Total Identifiable Spending
$7.6M dedicated to tenant harassment protection (Housing Litigation Bureau AHR $2.3M + Tenant Harassment Protection CD/TL $914K + Stabilize NYC $3.7M + Lower East Side TH $0 = $6.9M harassment-specific, plus $6.4M Housing Litigation Bureau shared infrastructure)
HPD has a well-defined anti-harassment infrastructure: the Housing Litigation Bureau AHR line ($2.3M) appears to be the dedicated anti-harassment litigation unit within the broader Housing Litigation Bureau ($8.7M total across all lines). Two Council-funded Tenant Harassment Protection lines total $914K. Stabilize NYC ($3.7M, contracted to Urban Justice Center) provides legal services to tenants facing harassment. Combined, these total approximately $7.0M in harassment-specific funding — close to the publicly announced $7.6M figure. HPD employs 1,077 Agency Attorneys ($113K avg) and 593 Executive Agency Counsel ($157K avg) who handle housing court litigation including harassment cases.
State bill S8559 (creating a class D felony for aggravated tenant harassment) has not passed yet — there is zero appropriation for criminal prosecution of landlord harassment. If it passes, enforcement would shift to DA offices ($601M combined), but harassment cases would be a tiny fraction of their caseload. The current system is civil, not criminal — HPD brings housing court cases, not criminal charges. Many harassment cases are handled by tenant attorneys funded through the Right to Counsel program (separate from these lines).
Key Context
NYC's Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection program has been operating since 2017, expanded multiple times through Council discretionary funding. The "AHR" in Housing Litigation Bureau AHR stands for Anti-Harassment. Stabilize NYC (through Urban Justice Center) provides free legal assistance to tenants in buildings flagged for speculation-driven displacement. Bill S8559 would create a new felony class for the most extreme harassment (utility shutoffs, illegal lockouts, threats) — currently these are handled as civil violations in housing court, not criminal offenses. The $7.6M announced figure aligns with the sum of dedicated budget lines found in the database.