Residents at 1111 Ocean Ave. are no stranger to issues in their apartment building and say that conditions have gotten worse, despite increased city involvement.  

One resident had their apartment ceiling collapse last month, something residents say they aren’t even surprised by. 

Rita, president of the building’s Tenants’ Association, started the group seven years ago because of incidents like this, and she says she wants to give a voice to the over 100 units in the building. 

“It’s gotten to the point where nobody does anything,” said Rita. “Nobody listens to us, and nobody is responding to our needs.” 

Though she says the problems date back for years, there’s a long enough list of problems in the building just from the past two.  

Currently, 1111 Ocean Ave. has 314 open violations with the city’s Housing and Preservation Department, with over 100 tenant complaints.  

“I’ve probably reached out to HPD 100 times, easily,” said Rita. “And that’s true of a lot of people in this building.  

Following last month’s ceiling collapse, the Department of Buildings inspected the apartment and found both the kitchen and bathroom in what they described as “disrepair”. They also found other issues, including a malfunctioning elevator. Three violations were issues to the landlord. 

The landlord’s failure to rectify these issues is playing out in housing court, and HPD has begun pursuing litigation against the owners of the building, providing this statement: 

“Litigation against the owner is in full swing, and emergency repairs are being initiated as needed.  HPD is employing all of its enforcement tools to work with the Tenant’s Association, improve conditions and correct violations. We ask tenants to continue filing complaints as conditions arise and action will be taken.” 

News 12 reached out to the owners of the building and received the following statement: 

“We have been working very hard since the end of the pandemic to perform the necessary repairs needed throughout the building without rents being paid. This has also been a very hard time for the management team with the loss of our building Super who passed away..." 

Some tenants told News 12 that they have stopped paying rent because of the conditions.