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Grandmother dies homeless after landlord evicts her while she’s out of town

Posted at 9:23 PM, Feb 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-06 21:23:56-05

NEW YORK — A New York City grandmother died several months after her landlord evicted her from her Brooklyn home while she was away, officials said.

Joy Noel, 85,  told her landlord over the summer that she’d be traveling for a few months. During that time, the landlord claimed Noel refused to sign a new lease. Noel came home to the news she’d been evicted after failing to show up for a court hearing she didn’t know about.

Noel told WPIX, “I never missed a payment, I never owed.”

See previous coverage of Noel’s story:

Her landlord, Carnegie Management, changed her locks and put all of her belongings in storage. Then they stopped paying for the storage space. Noel was told her belongings would be auctioned off.

The Flatbush Tenants Coalition, with help from the city, stepped in to raise money for Noel to keep her items in storage and to buy her winter clothing.

“No one should die, or live, homeless,” The Flatbush Tenants Coalition said in a statement with Councilman Jumaane Williams. “Her passing is the devastating result of the system turning a blind eye and disregarding tenants’ rights. It is a system that often fails to enforce consequences for landlords, even those who mercilessly target the elderly and the ill.”