Mayor Bill de Blasio says tenant-assistance agency expands

The city’s Tenant Support Unit has resolved its 1,000th case in the seven months since it was launched, helping a woman in East New York, Brooklyn, get her gas turned back on, her leaky ceiling fixed and her rodent problem solved, officials with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration said Monday.

The unit also refers tenants to free legal services, which de Blasio said have been increased tenfold with a budget of $62 million to protect residents from landlord intimidation or harassment.

Tenants seeking the legal protection can call 311, he said at a Washington Heights news conference.

“A lot of people have had their rights trampled,” de Blasio said. “It’s positively sick what’s happened to a lot of people.”

Evictions by city marshals have dropped 24 percent since he took office, down to about 22,000 last year, the mayor said.

Members of the unit have knocked on more than 57,000 doors and called more than 23,000 tenants since July 2015, finding 2,400 people who needed help, officials said.