Government
City’s Houses Of Worship Gear Up to Shelter Asylum Seekers
Daniel Parra |
Sources familiar with the plan say the city is looking to open 950 shelter beds at sites run by dozens of religious organizations in the coming months.
Government
Mayor Suspends Some ‘Right to Shelter’ Rules in Scramble to House Asylum Seekers
Daniel Parra, Jeanmarie Evelly and Emma Whitford |
The mayor defended the move, saying the city had little choice as it struggles to keep up with a ballooning shelter population. But advocates say the change undermines the city’s social safety net and protections to ensure homeless families with children have access to safe conditions.
Housing and Homelessness
Harlem Tenant Threatened With Eviction Was Overcharged for Years Under Rent Rules, Court Docs Claim
Dashiell Allen |
Seventeen previously rent-stabilized apartments in Cristina Ramirez’s Harlem building haven’t been registered with the state since 2018. Her legal team says her case is illustrative of the need for greater enforcement of New York’s rent laws.
Government
City to Rehab ‘Chronically Vacant’ Rent-Stabilized Apartments for Tenants With Vouchers
Jeanmarie Evelly |
The initiative will invest $10 million to repair stabilized units that have sat empty, and turn them over to tenants with rental assistance vouchers—what the administration described as a “creative way” to boost the city’s affordable housing stock and increase options for voucher holders, who often facing discrimination from landlords and brokers.
Government
What Would It Take To Fully Fund Right To Counsel For NYC Tenants?
Emma Whitford |
“It’s a complicated question,” said Rosalind Black, citywide housing director at Legal Services NY, which aids tenants under the landmark city initiative to provide free representation to low-income New Yorkers facing eviction in housing court. Though the results have been overwhelmingly positive, the program has never been funded to cover every eligible tenant.
Education
With City Child Care Program to End in June, Asylum-Seeking Parents Worry Over Plans for Summer
Daniel Parra |
Promise NYC was intended to help asylum-seeker families whose immigration status makes them ineligible for other, federally-funded child care assistance. But the program, which offered subsidized care for 600 children, is only slated to continue for the remainder of the school year. “I really don’t know what I’m going to do,” said one participant with a 7-month-old son.
Government
Housing Policy Faultlines Emerge Ahead Of Final Albany Budget Deal
Emma Whitford |
The Senate and Assembly on Tuesday released their annual budget resolutions, responding to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $227 billion spending proposal unveiled last month. They rejected the bulk of Hochul’s strategy to increase housing production statewide, while entertaining eviction protections the governor has ducked.
Government
New York’s First ‘Good Cause’ Eviction Law Falls, Ramping Up Push for Statewide Bill
Emma Whitford |
In a six-page decision Thursday, a panel of Third Department judges sided with Albany landlords in finding that state property laws preempt and nullify the city’s 2021 good cause eviction protections. The ruling makes the need for similar protections at the state level more urgent, tenant advocates say.
Economy
At Overdue Hearing, Advocates Push NYC to Fulfill Promise of Housing Court Help for Low-Income Tenants
Annie Iezzi and Frank Festa |
The city’s landmark Right to Counsel law was the country’s first to guarantee legal representation in housing court to low-income tenants most at risk for eviction. But advocates and providers say it’s been undermined in recent months as the courts schedule eviction cases faster than there are available housing attorneys to take them. “When the law was first passed, it worked,” Ruth Riddick, a Flatbush tenant, testified Friday at a city hearing on the initiative.
CITY VIEWS: OPINIONS and ANALYSIS
Opinion: City Policies Are Harming New York’s Homeless Youth
Amy Leipziger |
“If Mayor Adams truly wants to make good on his promises to stem the homelessness crisis in the city and provide substantive mental health to the city’s youth, he must first make it easier, not harder, to access safe and affordable housing.”
