Williamsburg tenants out on the street

Drama continues to unfold at a rent-stabilized building in Williamsburg. Less than two days after returning to their homes for the first time in a year, tenants of a four-story building at 172 North Eighth Street and Bedford Avenue are homeless again after the building’s foundation nearly collapsed from construction work, according to the Brooklyn Paper. After discovering that the corner of the basement had been destabilized, city officials vacated tenants from the building on Tuesday night. City contractors worked overnight to temporarily add several 10-foot-long wooden beams to support the shaky wall, stabilizing the foundation. This is the latest episode in a nearly year-long housing saga. The building has been empty since last July, when its landlord, Jamal Alokasheh, excavated the foundation without a permit. On Sunday, tenants cut off the Alokasheh’s padlock on the front door and returned to their apartments after the city lifted the vacate order from July. [Brooklyn Paper]