Landlords sit on empty buildings in Bed-Stuy, hoping value will increase

The Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn has the highest density per square mile of vacant buildings of anywhere in the five boroughs, according to a new land-use study soon to be released by the city, the Brooklyn Ink reported.

While many homes are in foreclosure, others are properties that owners are “warehousing,” a practice where an owner simply waits until a property is wanted, the blog said. This has led to blight in the area. 

The Lefferts Hotel, for instance, has more than $90,000 in unpaid Department of Buildings fines, and has sat empty since 2010.

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Community advocates said that all the abandoned buildings seem particularly ridiculous given the high rate of homelessness in and around Bed-Stuy. “There’s enough housing that there doesn’t need to be a homeless shelter,” said Kendall Jackman, a local advocate for the homeless. [Brooklyn Ink]