Housing Spotlight

SBLS and Legal Aid Society Win Victory for Long-Term Rent Stabilized Tenants

On June 22, 2010, a Manhattan appeals court struck down the minimum dollar rent increases included in the Rent Guidelines Board orders for 2008 and 2009. As a result, thousands of rent stabilized tenants who pay less than $1,000 in rent and have been living in the same apartment for at least six years may be entitled to a refund if they signed leases agreeing to pay a flat rent increase of $30, $45, $60 or $85 instead of a lower percentage increase.

In its decision, the Appellate Division, First Department, affirmed the decision of the Supreme Court in Casado v. Markus, (402267/08), filed by SBLS and the Legal Aid Society. The Court held that the Rent Guidelines Board may not single out long term tenants for higher rent increases, since the Board lacks the power to create “classes of accommodations” that are subject to different rates of increase.

Ironically, although the City tenaciously defended the RGB’s actions, the court’s decision may save the City millions of dollars in Section 8 subsidies and SCRIE tax credits by reducing the rents of hundreds of thousands of tenants, which hopefully will alleviate the financial crisis in the City’s low income housing programs.

The decision can be accessed on the New York Court Reporter website here.

(Housing)

Cut of Section 8 Vouchers Cruel and Costly, Legal Services Attorneys Tell City Council

South Brooklyn Legal Services attorneys Jennifer Levy and Emilie Eagan were joined by Legal Services colleagues from other offices and boroughs in giving important testimony before the City Council on Feb. 9 about the dramatic impact that the cuts of roughly 2,000 Section 8 vouchers will have on the city’s low-income residents.

The sudden cuts, announced in December, will affect SBLS clients like Patricia Argilagos, a mother who received a 6-month Section 8 guarantee in February 2009 after experiencing serious ongoing domestic violence.

Argilagos’ need for public assistance was extended after her abused pushed her out a window. She suffered severe back and leg injuries and was briefly in a coma, but survived. Her mobility was severely impaired, however.

Argilagos found a new apartment that accepted Section 8, but after transporting herself to Downtown Brooklyn to apply, she was rejected and told she could not extend or replace her Section 8 voucher because of cuts. She is afraid to be in her current apartment, because her abuser has not been apprehended.

Our attorneys testified:

This mass termination of Section 8 vouchers is unprecedented in the thirty-five year history of the Section 8 program. Unless a solution is found and found quickly, many of the tenants will wind up in the shelter system, at a cost far greater than that of replacing the Section 8 vouchers.

Although numbers have fluctuated slightly, the group of individuals affected includes at a minimum: 1,115 formerly homeless families with barriers to employment; 131 families with children in foster care awaiting reunification or youth aging out of foster care; 41 intimidated witnesses; 352 victims of domestic violence; and 293 “other” cases.

For media coverage of the issue, please visit WNYC.

The full testimony that Legal Services of New York City presented to the City Council is available below; please click to download and read.

Section 8 testimony 2-9-10.pdf (57.21KB)

(Housing)

"Poor Tax" Struck Down In Wake Of Lawsuit Filed by SBLS Housing Attorneys

In a major victory for New York City’s rent stabilized tenants, New York State Supreme Court Justice Emily Jane Goodman struck down a 2008 supplemental adjustment imposed by the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB), which has been characterized as a “poor tax” against low-income tenants who have lived in an apartment for more than six years and pay less than $1,000 a month in rent. The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by South Brooklyn Legal Services Housing Unit Director Ed Josephson and Staff Attorney Rachel Hannaford, along with attorneys from the Legal Aid Society.

(Read coverage from the The New York Times, The Village Voice and ABC 7.

“The court’s decision affirms that the RGB’s responsibility is to protect vulnerable long term tenants, not penalize them with onerous additional rent increases,” said Josephson. “In these difficult economic times, the decision will afford some much needed relief for low and moderate income working families who, as always, bear the brunt of the crisis.”

On June 19, 2008, the RGB adopted the 2008 Apartment and Loft Law #40, a supplemental adjustment for a new sub-class of housing accommodations. The RGB plan provided for renewal increases of 4.5 and 8.5 percent for one-and two-year renewal increases respectively. It also provided for a supplemental increase applicable to persons who have lived in an apartment for more than six years and pay less than $1,000 in rent. These tenants were required to pay increases of no less than $45 or $85 for one-and two-year renewals, resulting in a higher percentage increase than what is allowed under current RGB guidelines.

With the support of the City Council, Legal Services NYC and the Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit in September 2008 against the RGB, charging that it had exceeded its statutory authority. Justice Goodman vacated the portion of Order #40 which provides for the supplemental increase, declaring that the RGB does not have the authority to create a new class of housing accommodations and/or create rent adjustments not specifically authorized by the legislature. Justice Goodman also granted the motion of the New York City Council to file a memorandum of law as an amicus curiae in further support of the lawsuit.

“The creation of this ‘poor tax’ was a direct attack by the Rent Guidelines Board on low income tenants – the very New Yorkers hit hardest by the current recession,” said New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. “The City Council was proud to work with the Legal Aid Society and Legal Services of New York to help take this unjust burden off of tenants. I applaud Justice Goodman for recognizing that the Board penalized tenants for failing to move in a city where affordable housing is scarce, and finding that the Board exceeded its authority under City and State housing laws.”

One of the major plaintiffs, Paul Hertgen, who has lived in the same Staten Island apartment for 18 years, praised Justice Goodman for “helping to save our homes.” Mr. Hertgen, a union truck driver, was laid off from his job recently. He was the primary caregiver to his wife, who lost her battle with cancer in January 2007.

“As the RGB’s power is in doubt, a court should not permit a quasi-legislative agency, with a nine member board, appointed by the Mayor of New York, to perform a function designated to the legislative body, which enacted the RSL (New York City Rent Stabilization Law), “ Justice Goodman wrote in the opinion dated January 20.

(Housing)

SBLS Housing Attorney Michael Grinthal Helps Plan New Law to Register More Landlords

In August, SBLS Housing attorney Michael Grinthal, worked with the Bushwick, Brooklyn-based organization Make the Road New York and City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito on a bill to help low-income tenants discover who owns their buildings. New York’s incorporation laws permit the owners of multi-unit apartment buildings to shield their identity, permitting some landlords to avoid responding to their tenants’ needs. Grinthal assisted with a bill that is currently pending in the City Council, which would require anyone owning more than 25 percent of a corporately owned multi-unit apartment building to register their individual name, residence and business address with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. If the bill is signed into law, it could go toward answering the common question of “Who is my landlord?”

(Housing)