A landlord whose buildings ran up 1,090 violations was ranked Tuesday as the worst of 100 slumlords in the city.
Jonathan Cohen, of Silvershore Properties, collected the violations on 19 buildings he oversees in Brooklyn and Queens, according to rankings released by Public Advocate Letitia James at a rally in Foley Square.
James slammed the slumlords for “putting profit over people,” failing to provide heat and hot water and trying to push people from their homes to make way for wealthy tenants.
“Today, we shame them. Today, we put them on blast,” she said. “Their behavior is immoral, it’s unethical and it will not be tolerated.”
Other landlords who topped the list include Rawle Isaacs for 969 violations in four buildings; Thomas Steiner, who got slapped with 843 citations; and Bruce Haley, who got hit with 826 violations — all issued by the Housing Preservation and Development Department.
The landlords either did not return calls or could not be reached.
But Cohen defended himself in June against complaints from tenants, claiming some exaggerated claims and lied.
“We did not act in a bad manner. There’s people that are not doing nice things,” he told DNAinfo. “They’re doing bad things. I’m a father. I’m not some person that’s out there like a vulture.”
James’ findings come amid what she described as the worst affordable housing crisis since the Great Depression.
Her analysis did not include the New York City Housing Authority, which operates 176,000 apartments and is the largest public housing agency in North America.
When asked why she skipped NYCHA, James said she’d look at the agency “in the coming days.”
But her spokeswoman later said: “We’re not rolling anything out in the next few days.”
James released the list at a rally replete with loudspeakers that drenched Foley Square in Stevie Wonder and Pharrell tunes, prompting questions about her future mayoral ambitions.
“Next question,” she replied.
Silvershore later issued a statement saying:
“We have done a tremendous amount of work in these properties and expect the number of violations to be reduced significantly once the HPD dismissal inspections are scheduled this month. We have been extremely proactive about addressing any issues in each of the buildings.”