Carney retiring as Buffalo’s Housing Court judge

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Judge Patrick Carney’s sign hangs outside of Housing Court. Photo by Garrett Looker.

Judge Patrick Carney — Buffalo’s longest tenured Housing Court judge — will not seek reelection and plans to retire at the end of the year, Investigative Post has learned.

Carney, 68, has served as a City Court Judge since 1994. He was last reelected to his third 10-year term in City Court in 2014,  and has presided over Housing Court for almost 14 years. 

Eighth Judicial Administrative Judge Kevin Carter confirmed that Carney is leaving. 

“Next year, I’m going to have a new Housing Court judge,” he said.

Judge Patrick Carney. Photo courtesy of NYS Unified Court System.

Carney declined to comment, but the judge has spoken openly about his retirement in public Housing Court sessions, often saying he will not be presiding over some of the cases he has postponed into next year.

Carney was appointed Housing Court judge in 2011, replacing Judge Henry Nowak, who served seven years. 

During his tenure in Housing Court, Carney has earned a reputation as  a hardworking jurist, who is empathetic to homeowners at risk of losing their properties, especially elderly defendants who struggle financially. 

But Carney critics argue his reluctance to issue heavy fines and jail time lets out-of-town investors and negligent developers off the hook. They also say he’s slow to act, often postponing cases repeatedly. 

“There are so many vacant properties that if they were out of the hands of landlords who don’t deal with them properly, they would be back on the tax rolls. This is another place where the city is missing revenue,” said Patty Macdonald, president of the Allentown Association.

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The Allentown Association in the past has accused Carney of dragging his feet on neglected historic buildings that the association wanted saved.

Macdonald and some other housing advocates are welcoming the change and hoping that the court’s new judge will address the backlog of housing cases.

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Niagara District Common Council Member David Rivera. 

“I don’t think any one judge should be there forever, unless the judge is so effective and he loves doing it, but maybe they should rotate him or perhaps even have more than one judge handling all these cases,” he said.

While Carter declined to name Carney’s successor, he said the new appointment will be the first person of color to preside over Buffalo’s Housing Court.

“I hope that that is going to be a nice change in the sense that a lot of our Housing Court litigants are people of color. We need to find a way to really, truly focus on their needs,” Carter said.

Housing Court judges are typically named by the City Court’s chief judge in consultation with the administrative judge. Investigative Post reached out to Chief City Court Judge JaHarr Pridgen and is awaiting a response.

Some court officials speculate the next Housing Court judge could be Judge Phillip Dabney, who has served as a City Court judge since 2021. 

Since April, Dabney has been presiding over a new lead court that is a special section of Housing Court. The lead court exclusively hears cases regarding properties cited by the Erie County Department of Health for lead paint violations.

Carter recently announced he will reinstate the Housing Court advisory council, which had been inactive for nearly 30 years, despite being written into law in 1978.

State law says the council’s members should represent the real estate industry, bar associations, and civic groups, as well as the general public and city government. It is required to meet quarterly. The council observes Housing Court and makes recommendations on court operations. The council also submits annual reports to the mayor, the courts, the state legislature, and the governor.

Carter said he hopes the changes in court operations will lead to more efficient handling of cases and litigants’ concerns.

“In terms of our Housing Court, we want to provide more resources. We want to establish a scenario where it’s more mediation, it’s less adversarial. We want to bring more resources in terms of more employees to staff it, and to have more lawyers doing mediation,” he said.

I'Jaz Ja'ciel