Judge Carney exits soon-to-be-changed Housing Court

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Buffalo City Court. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel

After 30 years on the bench, the last 14 presiding over Buffalo’s Housing Court, Judge Patrick Carney has hung up his robes, making way for what could be significant changes in the way Housing Court operates.

While Carney’s current term runs through the end of December, the retiring judge said last Friday was his final day in the courtroom.

Although Carney’s successor has not been officially named, City Court Judge Phillip Dabney will fill in for Carney through the end of the year, according to Eighth District Administrative Judge Kevin Carter.

Carter declined to say who would replace Carney in 2025. Other court sources, however, said Dabney is likely to be appointed as of January.

Meanwhile, work continues on reestablishing an advisory council to monitor Housing Court activities, submit annual reports and make recommendations deemed necessary to improve court operations.

While Carter in August told Investigative Post that he was ready to name his designees to the advisory council, the judge now says reestablishing the panel requires additional work before appointments can be made.

“What my administration has to do is to essentially create this advisory council pretty much from the beginning,” Carter said.

As Investigative Post previously reported, the state Legislature in 1978 created Buffalo’s Housing Court and passed an accompanying law establishing a 16-member advisory council. However, that council has been inactive since the 1990s.

With safe and affordable housing considered a major concern in Buffalo, and critics saying Carney wasn’t tough enough on landlords who let properties deteriorate, reestablishing the council has wide support among the city’s housing activists. 

“Hopefully, it will be a really valuable space to discuss Housing Court processes and bigger system issues like the need for emergency housing or the need to prioritize lead prevention,” Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, executive director for the Partnership for the Public Good, has said. The organization met with Carter and chief City Court Judge Jaharr Pridgen in 2023 to advocate for reestablishing the council.

Building from scratch

Carter told Investigative Post work is progressing, albeit on the back end. So far, he said, the courts have drafted articles of operation, as well as a membership eligibility form to determine potential requirements for those who will serve on the advisory council.

While Carter declined to say what those eligibility requirements would be, some that currently exist within the 1978 legislative mandate include appointments of two each from the real estate industry, tenants’ organizations, civic groups, and unspecified bar associations, as well as four members of the public. 

“As far as the actual appointment of all these people to serve, I can’t give a time frame on that. But I can say that we should have all of the documents finalized somewhere in mid January,” he said.

Carter said he has met with Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon and Corporation Counsel Cavette Chambers, since City Hall is expected to have two appointments to the council.

“I shared with him my intent to finalize the formation of it by at least by mid-January, maybe sooner, and that he obviously would, by statute, have an appointment, and he appreciated that, ” Carter said.

Buffalo’s Housing Court has the only advisory council of its kind mandated in New York State. New York City’s Housing Court also has an advisory council, but that panel recommends judges to sit on the New York City court.   

Carter has been working on the advisory council, as well as naming Judge Carney’s successor, in consultation with Pridgen, the chief City Court judge. Pridgen did not return a call for comment.

Housing Court after Carney

Carney, 68, a City Court judge since 1994, had presided over Housing Court since 2011. He did not run for re-election this year to a fourth 10-year term, and he announced in court last Friday that it was his last day on the bench. 

As of now, there’s no official word on when Carney’s replacement will be named, but a new judge is expected to take the Housing Court bench in January.

“We have not officially assigned a judge to Housing Court for 2025,” Carter said.

But Carter has previously said he expected to appoint the first person of color to serve as Housing Court judge.

City Court Judge Phillip Dabney

Court observers previously speculated that it could be Dabney, 55, who has been a City Court judge since 2021. Dabney’s current term runs through Dec. 31, 2031. Prior to serving in City Court, he was an attorney for the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority.

Carter confirmed that Dabney will be hearing Housing Court cases through the end of 2024 following Carney’s departure, but he did not say whether Dabney will receive an official appointment as the next Housing Court judge. 

Dabney currently presides over lead court, a division of Housing Court that exclusively hears cases for properties with lead paint violations cited by the Erie County Department of Health.

Lead court was said to be temporary when it was established, but Carter said it will operate for the foreseeable future and that Dabney has been effective in hearing the city’s “growing caseload” of lead-related cases.

I'Jaz Ja'ciel