Charles Florio is heir to a real estate family which made its fortunes developing the Gold Coast in Hoboken and Jersey City in the 1970s and 80s.[1] Charles Florio purchased his first apartment in Paterson in 2009[2] at the height of the foreclosure crisis. The Florios have expanded their holdings in the city, primarily by purchasing vacant and foreclosed houses in Paterson’s 4th-Ward
The Florios’ decision to shift their real estate holdings from Hudson County to Paterson is a deliberate strategy to exploit the housing crises in Patersons’ poorest communities. Foreclosed buildings are purchased cheap, the Florios make the minimum amount of improvements needed to make apartments habitable; they charge rent while waiting for property values to rise- at which point they will either sell their properties or redevelopment them for higher-income tenants.
Rachel is a tenant that lives in an apartment complex owned by Florio Mgmt. They have experienced problems from the very beginning. The building’s door is broken, so anyone can walk in at night. There is a huge, gaping hole near the entrance that, when it rains, floods the outside hallway. Rachel has an autistic son who is but only 2 years old. For 48 hours straight, they went without heat and electricity in one of the coldest days of winter. Rachel’s immune system weakened because of this incident. All Florio Mgmt. offered was a single reimbursement for the food that was spoiled due to the electricity going out. They have yet to give them the reimbursement.
When Rachel confronts the property management about all of this, they either laugh in Rachel’s face or lash out against Rachel. This has triggered Rachel’s severe anxiety, as Florio’s lawyer berates and yells at the tenants being sued for the most ridiculous things. Meanwhile, the building is in disrepair and the tenants are forced to live there. Tenants have waited months for repairs to happen, such as heating for the apartment. This had occurred around the same time that Florio apparently offered hotel rooms for anyone who had no heat within their apartments. Tenants are either forced to wait on the line or quit altogether and deal with the issue themselves.
Joaquin lives in a house split into various segments. They lived in California before they were priced out due to the housing crisis on the West Coast. The rent has skyrocketed within 10 years and has become unaffordable for most of the original community. They found an apartment within Paterson, moving here as the location is not ideal yet affordable from the rest of the metropolitan area. Everything started to take a turn for the worst when the basement was flooded with water. The smell was so horrific that the Fire Dept who was called to check it ran out of the basement in disgust. The basement was fixed months later, but not until various tenants made several complaints about the issue. And instead of fixing the situation right away, Florio along with his workers spent some time trying to intimidate Joaquin into silence.
Asked about what is going on with the recent redevelopment and luxury apartments being built within Paterson by Florio Mgmt., Joaquin asks, “It’s really happening, right? I mean, I’ve seen the same patterns happening within California that I see happening now.” It’s true: Florio Mgmt., while neglecting the buildings they have currently, are building luxury apartments next to the train-line within Paterson. This is to bring in middle to upper-class young whites being priced out of Brooklyn, Jersey City and Hoboken. Recent swipes of the homeless and drug users near the area have occurred (the homeless are more often than not tenants themselves who have been priced out or kicked out of their original homes). It is a vicious cycle that is playing out nationwide, yet has found its way towards our community.