Dozens of low-income tenants in Brooklyn are fighting to save their affordable apartment building.

An attorney for the tenants told NY1 about 30 of the 70 apartments at 63 Tiffany Place in Brooklyn’s Columbia Street Waterfront District are rent-stabilized and others are bound by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit agreement, limiting rent to 30% of the tenant's income. But that tax incentive is set to expire in March and when it does, the remaining 40 or so apartments could become market rate.

“Right now, I have no place to go," Gilberto Gonzalez, who fears he may be priced out of his home of 30 years, said. “They have to do something. Something convenient for me. At my age, I’m not 30 or 40 or 50 anymore.”

Gonzalez is a volunteer Chaplain for the NYPD. He says he had to rely heavily on his faith when his wife of 54 years passed away in 2019.

“My wife died when she was here, so I want to die here, too. I want to remain here until the day I die," he said.

Gonzalez's rent at the building in Brooklyn has stayed affordable at about $900 per month.

“People ask me, ‘What’s your plan b if this doesn’t work out?’ I have no plan b. There is none. The average rent around here is $4,300 for a one-bedroom,"  John Leyva, who has also lived at 63 Tiffany for 30 years said.

He says the tenants are working with attorneys who say the owner expressed interest in selling but has not followed through.

“We’re not asking the landlord to give us the building. We’re asking him to come and negotiate with us," Leyva said.

Lawyers for the tenants say they should be covered by Good Cause Eviction, which caps rent hikes to 10%. But they worry the owner could argue in court that a large rent increase is justified, given the loss of the tax subsidy.

“We’re fighting for the heart and soul of New York. For New Yorkers who have been here all their lives and not have to be run out of their city," Leyva said.

NY1 left messages with workers at the building owner's office. The owner, Irving Langer, has not called back.

A website from his company boasts roughly "300 workers while managing a portfolio of about 10,000 properties across the country and that it is "committed to tenant satisfaction."

Langer has appeared on the public advocate’s Worst Landlord Watchlist, most recently in 2018. 

“These are not units, these are homes. And these are real people. And if he saw us and met the great people who live in this building, he might have a change of heart and that’s what we’re hoping for. And we just hope we can work something out," Leyva said.

Tenants say they are not currently pursuing legal action and would like to avoid it, but Langer has not yet responded to their requests to negotiate.