The infamous Podolsky brothers, who are known for being slumlords, are raising millions to house homeless New Yorkers after selling over 20 buildings to the city for a total of $173.5 million — more than the appraised value.
By: Marcus Tentrite
Financial documents show that the brothers, Jay and Stuart Podolsky, made an income of $188.7 million dollars in leasing various property over the last five years.
After selling 21 buildings to the city above market value, they will retain seven buildings to house the homeless — taking in millions of dollars.
New York City officials told the New York Post Thursday that the program will come to an end by Dec. 2020.
“As we continue our shelter transformation plan, we are phasing out all of their remaining shelter locations by the end of next year,” Isaac McGinn, a spokesman for the City’s Department of Homeless Services, told The Post.
The brothers raked in massive profits by providing space to the city to shelter the homeless under two different programs — traditional shelters and “cluster” units.
The City’s purchase of the 20+ apartment buildings in two boroughs, Brooklyn and the Bronx, acquires the clusters which the Podolsky brothers owned, which made $48.6 million between July 2013 and June 2018.
The pair also leased eight buildings as additional shelters, where they made a larger profit — $140.1 million over the same five year period of time.
Someone who works for the City told The Post recently that they shut down one of the Podolsky standard shelters in December 2018, reducing the number of shelters owned by the pair to seven.
New York’s Department of Homeless Services never entered into an agreement directly with the brothers, but, rather signed contracts with nonprofit organizations which rented space in buildings owned by the pair — which then billed City Hall to be reimbursed.
The unusual payment relationship hid the amount of money which the brothers made in a relatively short period of time.
Both brothers as well as Zenek, their father, plead guilty to a slew of criminal charges in the late ’80s, which including putting hookers and drug dealers in several buildings to remove tenants. Both Podolsky brothers were sentenced to five years on probation, while their father spent 90 days in a local jail.
They were sentenced to five years probation, while Zenek spent 90 days in jail.
The criminal past was brought to light again as a result of the City announcing the purchase of the buildings. The brothers also came under fire after The Times reported that Frank Carone, the main attorney for the Brooklyn Democrat Party, represented the brothers in the transaction.
Scott Stringer, who is the New York City comptroller, subpoenaed the records from the acquisition last week.
Top NYC officials have often defended the acquisition as part of a proposal to shutter the cluster program by 2020 — which originally started under Rudy Giuliani’s time as mayor.
