New York is a tenant town. And while it’s always been expensive to live here, New Yorkers are now grappling with an unprecedented housing crisis. Demand far outstrips supply. The city has not built enough affordable housing to keep up with the growing population, and the apartment vacancy rate recently hit an all-time low of 1.4%. In this kind of climate, many landlords feel emboldened to jack up rents and neglect basic maintenance, as tenants feel like they have nowhere else to go. Even worse, some intentionally work to drive existing tenants out of their homes so that they can put the unit back on the market at a much higher rent, driving up costs across the neighborhood and fracturing long-standing communities.
Slumlord Millionaire, a new documentary from PBS’s VOCES series, spotlights this crisis through the eyes of several tenants. The film depicts the devastation the crisis has wrought, but it also highlights the strength and power that can be found when communities band together to fight back. Slumlord Millionaire premiered on July 28; the film is available on PBS, Prime Video, Apple TV and Xfinity Comcast.
We spoke with the film’s directors and producers, Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez (who lives in Williamsburg), about their new documentary.
Below is a Q&A:
You’ve lived in Williamsburg for 10 years, an area that has become a buzzword for real estate and gentrification issues. What changes have you noticed in the area over the years?
We have both lived in New York for about 20 years and know from experience that finding an apartment in the city can be a nightmare. Seeing neighbors being priced out and families that have lived here for decades being forced to leave the neighborhood has been disheartening.
Ellen Martinez: In Williamsburg specifically, housing costs have become unaffordable. I was pregnant while filming and now have a toddler. Finding an apartment with more space in the neighborhood is prohibitively expensive for most people. It’s also sad seeing all of the businesses close over the years because of exorbitant rent hikes—I loved going to Lodge, Crest Hardware, Pencil Factory, and many more neighborhood institutions that have been forced out.
How did you get interested in pursuing this as a documentary? What was the filming process like?
When we started doing research for this film in 2019, we were disturbed to hear about the extremely predatory tactics and blatant discrimination that some landlords use to harass and displace long-term, rent-paying tenants. Not only were some landlords turning off essential services like heat or hot water, ignoring repairs, ignoring infestations, and other harassment, but these tactics were widespread and in direct correlation with gentrification in neighborhoods across the city. It seemed illegal, but because of well-worn loopholes built into the city’s judicial system, they were able to get away with it.
We wanted to make a film that explores the root causes of these issues and the systems that allow this to continue to happen. Each story in the film could have been its own separate documentary, but we wanted to include them together to show the magnitude and interconnectivity of this crisis.
Most of the filming took place in 2022, and we premiered the film at DOC NYC 2024. Making a film in and about New York is so rewarding, and we’re excited to have many more screenings throughout the city with the participants.
What protections do you think the city or state need to implement to help protect tenants?
As we cover in the film, a lot of policies need to be strengthened or changed, but most importantly, we need politicians who are motivated to make that change. Housing is a top issue in this mayoral election, and we encourage everyone to do their research and vote in November.
What do you hope viewers take away from the film?
Housing struggles can be a very isolating experience, but we hope that the film shows other people dealing with these issues that they are not alone. Deed fraud is increasingly common and a very complicated crime, but a lot of people don’t talk about it because they are ashamed. This is not your fault; it is a crime that needs to be prosecuted. For others experiencing landlord harassment—document everything and contact your local city council member or tenant organizing groups in your community.
For anyone who is not experiencing housing struggles, we hope the film encourages people to pay attention and help their neighbors. In some buildings, landlords are letting one apartment go into disrepair while the unit next door is newly renovated and rented out for five times the amount (in the same building). If you see your neighbors meeting in the hallway, see what is going on. Often, there is more strength in a case or action if the entire building is able to work together.
Anything else you’d like to add?
The documentary is available now on PBS App, Prime Video, Apple TV, and Xfinity. The film is also available for screenings and community discussions throughout the city—if you or an organization you work for would like to host a screening, please reach out!
To support some organizations featured in the film:
To join the movement to stop deed theft, support Homeowners United: The People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft
To support CAAAV Voice, which is activating the Asian and Asian American voting community in NYC and was critical in Zohran Mamdani’s primary win.
To stay up to date on screenings and events follow us on instagram @slumlordmillionairefilm
This documentary is so one sided that it is far from telling the whole truth. When you talk about the housing market, free market rental apartments and rent stabilized apartments are two totally separate entities. If you want to attack one type of apartment rental then make sure you’re not including the other type of apartment rental. Yeah, there are bad people out there (landlords and tenants) but let not create blanket policies that hurt those that have done nothing wrong and are getting shafted by these narrow sighted policies.