The New York State Legislature created the Rochester Housing Court in 1978 to address a crisis of deteriorating housing stock that continues today. The Housing Court has the duty to protect and promote the public interest. It fashions innovative remedies for the thousands of building code violation cases that it handles each year.

The Rochester Housing Court is dedicated to treating each problem property in its neighborhood context and solving the underlying causes of abandonment, degradation and distress in the City of Rochester communities.

Over the past several years, Rochester Housing Court Judge Henry Nowak has undertaken a reform effort designed to improve the court’s ability to dramatically improve the quality of life for city residents, workers and businesses. These improvements include:

(a) a restructuring of the court’s intake and scheduling methods to facilitate community participation and feedback,;
(b) the creation of receivership programs that allows the court to oversee property repairs and fine collection;
(c) the contribution of community liaisons who provide assistance with case management, research and communication with neighborhood activists.; and
(d)coordinating landlord-tenant eviction cases with the housing code violations cases.