Documentary highlights Sunset Park family’s fight for just housing

The Sunset Park Library hosted a screening of the documentary "Slumlord Millionaire" on Sept. 13, which follows tenants across New York City, including Sunset Park, fighting abusive landlords and unsafe housing conditions.

The Bravos, who live on 61st Street, are featured heavily in the film. The family, who has lived in the same apartment for more than 25 years, began experiencing trouble when a new owner bought the building in 2007.

“She began with visits, phone calls, letters saying we didn’t belong, letters saying we had to show proof of security deposit payments,” said Fabián Bravo, who lives in the apartment with his wife and three children. “She didn’t make repairs, didn’t provide heat or hot water.”

In the film, the landlord is shown entering the apartment without permission, insulting the family with racial slurs, and threatening deportation.

Bravo and his wife sought help in 2009 from Marcela Mitaynes, now a state assemblymember, who at the time was a tenant organizer with Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN), a Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC) affiliate with offices on 32nd Street. With NHN’s help, building meetings turned into an association; pro bono lawyers filed an HP action, and the case advanced to the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

“Eventually we reached an agreement where the owner had to respect certain things, that she wouldn’t discriminate,” Bravo said. “She had to give us leases on time, that rent increases would be according to law, make repairs on time, and stop her threats and harassment.”

The Bravo family’s testimony also played a role in passing the New York “Asthma Free Housing Act” in 2018, which requires landlords to eliminate mold and pests.

When asked why his family agreed to be in the documentary, Bravo said they thought it would be a way to show what was happening both in the city and in the neighborhood.

“At first my wife and kids and I were scared, but we saw the need to send a message to the community — that they can overcome fear, learn their rights, and participate collectively, defend their housing, work together, find resources, and have an environment free from landlord harassment,” Bravo said. “That’s what motivated us.”

He described the experience of filming, which lasted almost four years, as new but interesting. The crew shot in different parts of Sunset Park and conducted several interview sessions.

“We learned new things,” Bravo said, “like how to empower the community to raise its voice, come together, and participate in campaigns for the community’s interests — in this case, tenants’ rights.”

Today, Bravo works full time as a tenant organizer with Neighbors Helping Neighbors. His job involves walking tenants through the basics of their rights — how rent increases are decided, what lease protections they’re entitled to, and how to get repairs addressed. He also shows people how to document problems, call 311, and connect with neighbors to form tenant associations. Once a group is organized, he helps them link up with attorneys who can take their case forward.

While Bravo’s journey from tenant to organizer is inspiring, it is not unique. Mitaynes followed a similar path, first reaching out for help as a tenant before becoming a leader in her building and, eventually, in the wider movement.

Michelle de la Uz, executive director of FAC, said that is often how organizing begins. She pointed to Brooklyn Tenants United, a coalition that meets monthly and brings together renters from across the borough. Tenants usually arrive with a single problem, she explained, and staff immediately ask whether their neighbors are facing the same issue.

“And when they say yes, that’s when we figure out how to start a tenant association in the building,” de la Uz said. “That’s the work we do: helping individuals, but also helping people become connected and organized and understand their rights so they can improve their own conditions and strengthen conditions for tenants overall.”

Co-director of "Slumlord Millionaire" Ellen Martinez was on hand for the screening and a panel discussion afterward that also included Mitaynes, de la Uz, Bravo, and his daughter Samantha, who is also an activist working part time for the assemblymember.

“They’re incredible,” Martinez said of the Bravo family. “They were able to achieve success, but that took a lot of work and dedication, and they’re giving so much back to the community now. I was really honored that they agreed to be in the movie.”

The film was produced as part of the PBS series VOCES, from Latino Public Broadcasting, and funded in large part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which is shutting down operations due to federal funding cuts.

“Most of the grants that funded this film do not exist anymore,” Martinez said. “We were able to make this one, but there will be a lot of documentaries that don’t get made because of these cuts.”

A final PBS-sponsored screening will be held at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/MoMI925

The film can also be streamed on PBS, Prime Video, Apple TV, and Xfinity Comcast.