What An In-Person Trial Looks Like in a Socially Distanced Brooklyn Housing Court

New York City’s housing court is one of the busiest in the nation, with a quarter of a million new filings a year. When the coronavirus pandemic struck in March, the individual housing courts in each borough were limited to virtual hearings—and only for emergencies such as lock-outs. But as these housing courts gradually reopen now, they still can’t accommodate all the tenants, landlords, and lawyers who’d normally crowd their buildings.

In Brooklyn, the solution is a new version of housing court that’s not even recognizable. Elected officials and tenant advocates had objected to reopening the civil court on Livingston Street, a former office building with tiny courtrooms and narrow hallways. As a result, while business is limited and mostly virtual at the old building, housing trials resumed in late July at the much larger Kings County Supreme Court building a few blocks away on Jay Street.

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