Harlem Roommates Pay Thousands To Colive With Rodents: Report, Records

HARLEM, NY — Roommates living in a once affordable Harlem building managed by a New York Times-profiled "coliving" company pay thousands a month to "colive" with strangers and rodents, according to city records and a new report.

The Clark House at 125 W. 138th St. is one of three uptown properties managed by The Outpost Club, whose tenants say conditions are grim and fees are high, THE CITY reports.

“People don’t deserve to get sucked into this,” Clark House tenant Mary-Louise reportedly told the outlet. “I can’t believe they are still running the place.”

Duke Properties bought the five-story building between Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell boulevards in 2020 and received permits to renovate and install partitions in nine of 10 units, Buildings department records show.

The Clark House's listing boasts hardwood floors, exposed brick, stainless kitchens and marble baths. The price for a stay in large bedroom with a desk between three and four months is $2,066 a month.

“Most of the buildings we buy are over 80 years old and are in substandard condition and are in need of Substantial Rehabilitation," CEO Albert Dweck told THE CITY.

"We diligently follow the rent stabilization laws and building codes in order to produce good, safe, quality housing that people can enjoy."

Marie-Louise told THE CITY she moved into a shared three-bedroom unit in May 2021, signing a lease that denied her the right to know the identity of roommates who would share a space with no interior locks.

The Clark House is not a single room occupancy hotel and therefor cannot have key locks inside its units under New York City law.

The Housing Preservation and Development department has issued 19 open violations to the Clark House, two of which are immediately hazardous, city records show.

A first floor unit had missing or defective self-closing doors and a mouse infestation, and water leaks were reported on the first, third and fifth floor, according to HPD.

Sergii Starostin, CEO of Outpost Club, told THE CITY building concerns are not the company's responsibility, but the landlord's.

“There are zero properties in New York City that have zero problems,” Starostin said. “I always make sure that my teams are addressing the issues, and not pretending to address the issues.”

Inspectors also noted 10 apartments had been converted to 44 rooming units. Before Mary-Louise moved in, the building was registered in New York State as rent-stabilized, according to THE CITY.

An attorney with the Legal Aid Society raised concerns about Outpost Club leases and federal Section 8 rules that regulate low income housing.

“Outpost has — whether intentionally or not — excluded an entire protected class of renters from any property they lease in this manner,” Steph Rudolph reportedly said.

Stabilization concerns also spurred Outpost Club tenants in Bedford Stuyvesant to a launch a rent strike, demanding more information about how their building left rent regulation under a former owner, one resident reportedly said.

Dani S. told THE CITY, "That’s the whole thing that we’re fighting about."

While Mary-Louise said she left after one year at The Clark House, other Outpost Club residents told The New York Times that the coliving came as a relief.

“It seemed sort of sketchy because it all seemed too easy,” corporate recruiter Lindsey Tindage, 27, told the Times in November. “Co-living took all the stress out of moving."

Read more of THE CITY's investigative report here.