APP: Federal housing officials have charged an embattled realty company here with discrimination, alleging a pattern of racial and religious preferences at Cottage Manor Apartments that benefited the Jewish families who lived there while neglecting minority tenants.Triple H. Realty LLC of Lakewood and two employees � former apartment manager Vincent Ortiz and current managing property agent Harry Kantor � are accused of violating the Fair Housing Act by attempting to segregate non-Jewish black and Hispanic tenants at the 104-unit, six-building complex on Woehr Avenue, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Wednesday.The Fair Housing Act outlaws discrimination based on religion and race. The company and Kantor both deny allegations of discrimination, according to a HUD document.
The charge is the first housing discrimination case filed in Lakewood’s recent history, despite some residents’ frequent accusations that the township’s large Orthodox Jewish population receives preferential treatment.
“I’ve heard these accusations before. I think it’s a disgrace if this is true,” said Audrey Wise, a member of the Ocean County/Lakewood branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
HUD’s investigation began after a complaint was filed by two residents in June 2004, according to case documents. Cottage Manor, formerly known as the Congress Apartments, has had problems in the past.
In 2000, as it neared the end of an agreement it had with the Lakewood Housing Authority to provide rental assistance for 75 units, residents of the complex publicly complained of decrepit living conditions at Cottage Manor, including fallen stairs and rodent, roach and bug infestations.
Mary Jo Grauso, executive director of Lakewood Housing Authority, said only “a handful” of housing authority residents now live in Cottage Manor.
“Is it true? Is it not true? I can’t comment because I don’t have any first-hand knowledge,” Grauso said. “Historically, there have been problems there for years and years.”
HUD’s current allegations include:
Non-Jewish tenants were forced to transfer to buildings at the back of the property so that Jewish families could move to the better-maintained apartments at the complex’s front end.
Non-Jewish tenants received little to no maintenance compared to the service provided to Jewish tenants. For example, Cottage Manor management refused to properly exterminate one non-Jewish family’s apartment.
The building, home to many Jewish families, has a well-manicured lawn in the front courtyard enclosed by a white picket fence. The buildings with a majority of black and Hispanic tenants have little or no lawn. Their courtyards are not enclosed by a picket fence.
Non-Jewish tenants were told they could not leave toys or personal items on the lawns, but Jewish tenants were permitted to do so.
“Driving through the area you can see the physical disparities,” said Wise, who handles housing complaints for the NAACP as a member of the group’s executive board.
HUD’s charge of discrimination was issued against the company, Ortiz and Kantor. No phone numbers could be found Wednesday night for Ortiz and Kantor. Shlomo Kanarek, listed on the property’s 2003 mortgage filing as the managing member of Triple H. Realty, also could not be reached.
Discrimination charges can be heard before an administrative law judge or in a U.S. District Court. If the case is heard by a law judge, the first hearing is scheduled for Sept. 26.
The maximum civil penalty for a first offense charge of discrimination is $11,000, in addition to actual damages for each complaint.
“Providing unequal living facilities based on religion, race, color and/or national origin is simply inconceivable,” said Kim Kendrick, HUD’s assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity. “We are committed to ensuring these families have an equal opportunity for housing in their community.”
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Freehold homeowners are targets for fast transactions
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD – Municipal officials are expected to consider an application for a solicitor’s license from a borough property owner who has previously been cited for code violations.
The application is expected to come before the Borough Council on July 17.
Michael Lefkovits, of H&R Realty, Lakewood, applied for a solicitor’s license several months ago. According to the application, Lefkovits wants to be able to go door to door and solicit people to sell their property.
In response to issues raised by the borough’s Code Enforcement Office and according to municipal records, Lefkovits was found guilty earlier this year of not providing fire extinguishers, not providing smoke detectors, not providing a sewer line and not having a certificate of occupancy in various units for which he is the owner.
In an interview on July 10, Lefkovits, who said he owns units at the Parker House condominiums, Broad Street, said it is not uncommon for people to go door to door to solicit real estate.
He did not directly answer when asked if he thought his previous code violations would have an effect on the council’s decision for his solicitation permit.
In a letter he e-mailed to the News Transcript last week, Councilman Marc Le Vine said he is concerned about people going door to door and trying to intimidate residents into selling their homes, often for cash.
Le Vine, who did not name any solicitors in his e-mail, alleged that some homeowners who refuse to listen to what he calls panic peddling, “have been harassed and even threatened with declining property values and diminishing quality of life as it insinuates that their neighbors have already sold out to greed and eventual neighborhood blight.”
He charged that many absentee landlords “turn beautiful and spacious homes into profit centers by collecting numerous cheap cash rents [by] overcrowding” people into the home.
Le Vine suggested that if residents suspect they are facing panic peddling, they should report it to borough officials. He asked people to think about the future of their town, even if they are planning to move away.
“Most absentee landlords are not interested in preserving strong communities,” Le Vine wrote. “It is in their best interest to create a buyers market by pushing out people who have a stake in the community. Don’t sell to them.”
First Street resident Sheryl Mott had a personal experience with a door-to-door solicitor asking to buy her grandmother’s home where she and her sister reside. She recounted her story at a council meeting last year. She said a man came to her grandmother’s home and asked to buy the house.
Mott said the man asked her grandmother, who was sitting on her porch on a Sunday afternoon, if she was interested in selling her house. Mott said the man told her grandmother that he would give her cash immediately.
“My grandmother replied that she was not interested in selling her home,” Mott said.
This week, Mott was able to identify Lefkovits as the man who came to her grandmother’s house. She said there have been people knocking on doors in her neighborhood making offers to buy homes for cash.
i know for a fact that people on section 8 in lakewood new jersey pay more hand too hand too landlords .then there suppose too .then section 8 pays there portion i see houses for 1600 and up section 8 does not pay that kind of rent for a 3 or 4 bedroom house .section 8 pays 1265 for a 3 bedroom you pay the landlord say 540 out oh hand section 8 pays the rest .theres people matching section 8 like mothers who work pay like 900 a month hand too hand .section 8 pays 600 thats for a 1500 house and that rare here. they have too though too get a decent place too live .i know a lady looking for a house the landlords said well how much more can you pay me under the table. like say section 8 tells you too give the landlord600 out of pocket. and section 8 is paying him 665 he may say can you give me a few more hundred that would be 900 out of her pocket and the lady says yes. section 8 will never know thats why people get these nice houses here. you cant get a 3 bedroom house in lakewood for 1265 you cant so you know people are paying extra too there landlords there should be rent control of some kind.