Brooklyn Apartment Complex Residents Protest Planned Rent Hikes

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- About 100 angry tenants of a Brooklyn apartment complex turned out to protest planned rate hikes Sunday.

After being denied a tax abatement by the city, Alma Realty plans to convert many of the 700 rent-stabilized units at the Jewish Hospital apartment complex in Crown Heights to market rates, 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported. The increases will range from 4.5 percent a year to double digits in some cases.

One tenant told Schuck the rent hikes will have a ripple effect on residents' lives.

Listen to Brooklyn Apartment Complex Residents Protest Planned Rent Hikes

"When I talk about planning and education fund for our children -- these things are not only diminished, but no longer sometimes are possibilities," he said. "So when we talk about losing stabilization, we're talking about more than simply an apartment increase; we're talking about losing a stabilization of our lives."

One protester held a sign that read: "MAYOR DE BLASIO, SAVE OUR HOMES."

"This is outrageous," one woman said.

"Here I am a doctor of my profession, and I can't afford to live in Brooklyn," another protester added. "What's up with that?"

The New York City Council is promising to intervene and is planning a hearing on the subject Monday.

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