Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr., said: “Our city is in the middle of a housing crisis which creates power imbalances between landlords and tenants. While many landlords play by the rules, there are unscrupulous individuals who seek to exploit the lack of affordable housing for financial gain. I created the Office’s first Tenant and Housing Protection Unit to address systemic harassment and other illegal activity, and our work has shown we need additional tools to prevent and deter this conduct from occurring. This new proposed legislation will create additional measures of accountability for those who systemically harass rent regulated tenants and create a deterrent to engage in this type of conduct. We must protect every unit of affordable housing, and I thank our legislative partners for their support on this critical issue.”