State senator has consulting job with controversial landlord in his home district
Newly minted state Sen. Brian Benjamin has been hired to advise his former Harlem real estate firm — a company that has amassed hundreds of building violations and tenant disputes in his own district, The Post has learned.
The 40-year-old Democrat has “a consulting agreement” with Genesis Companies, worth $60,000 a year, which would nearly double his $79,500 lawmaker’s salary, according to public documents filed with the state. Benjamin admitted to The Post that he consults with Genesis, but denied that he’s getting paid for it.
But a form filed with the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) says Benjamin is on paid retainer “at a rate of $5,000 per month” for Genesis, beginning June 2017, a month after he was elected, and ending in June 2018.
Benjamin’s “total compensation and expenses” is stated as $60,000 by Genesis in the document. Benjamin would not explain the JCOPE paperwork.
Genesis Companies’ CEO Karim Hutson filed the paperwork with JCOPE on July 5 — “under penalty of perjury” — informing the ethics panel that the company was putting Benjamin on the retainer to “consult on real estate development matters.”
The company owns dozens of buildings in Benjamin’s Harlem district and has been involved in more than 100 cases in housing court. It manages more than 1,000 affordable housing units, with 764 active violations, 268 of them issued since Benjamin won a special election in May.
Many are for “immediately hazardous” Class-C violations and others are for mold, roaches and bedbugs. Meanwhile, the firm is battling tenants and housing groups — constituents that usually seek the backing of their local lawmaker.
“So my senator is also my landlord?” said shocked Harlem resident Kathy Smith, 57.
Smith is the president of the residents’ association in a Genesis-owned apartment complex on West 127th St. She said that Genesis in 2015 purchased the building, one of dozens it bought in a fire sale from a struggling non-profit. Benjamin, who was then managing director of business development at the firm, came to meet the tenants in the 24 unit-complex, Smith told The Post.
But when residents called the company with complaints, they were ignored, said Smith.
“I called Genesis time after time after time and the only time that anything ever gets fixed in this building is when I complain to 311,” said Smith.
Genesis develops affordable housing in partnership with community-based non-profits, churches and mosques. The 13-year-old firm has received millions in tax credits from the city and the federal government to rehabilitate old buildings for affordable housing in Harlem.
Benjamin, who is listed as an “advisory board member” on Genesis Companies’ website, said affordable housing is a priority for him in the district.
“My office is committed to fighting on behalf of every member of this community, to ensure tenants’ rights are protected and that they have a voice in local government,” he told The Post. “My background building affordable housing only deepens my understanding of these issues … To suggest otherwise is frankly ludicrous.”
But one Albany watchdog group suggested the arrangement with Genesis could be problematic.
“Being allowed to moonlight creates potential conflicts,” said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Group. “There are numerous examples of elected officials who have abused public office for personal gain.”
Benjamin said he also submitted the retainer agreement to another state panel, the Legislative Ethics Commission.
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