Press release

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"Making the Rent"

CSS Confronts Real Implications of NYC’s Rising Rent Burden

New York, NY, December 15, 2006 -- The Community Service Society of New York’s (CSS) latest report, “Making the Rent, 2002-2005: Changing Rent Burdens & Housing Hardships Among Low-Income New Yorkers,” details the hardships impacting poor New Yorkers as rents in the city skyrocket and families are left with little cash to take care of other basic necessities.

CSS’ research on housing affordability is validated by the experiences of real New Yorkers who seek the assistance of the organization in “making the rent.” As one of the few organizations in the city that provide direct cash assistance to those in need, the Community Service Society is in a unique position to see the human dimension of the data its researchers analyze and interpret.  Here are but two examples:

Ruth

Ruth’s story is one of emotional and economic hardship, rebel thinking, and domestic devotion. And it cannot be told without understanding something about the life of her husband.

Born to a poor black mother living in projects in Brooklyn, he grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant and in East New York.  “My husband was especially bright and
creative. He was also a tortured person,” she says.  She remembers a man who composed and sang his own songs, and was a self-taught scholar, especially on religion.

“He was really smart,” she recalls.  “He started dealing drugs when a boy.  It was the way he knew to make money.  There was a lot of wasted potential with him.”

He grew addicted to drugs, which posed its challenges.  In 1987, he found out he was HIV positive.  They married in 1989.  Neither she nor their three daughters have the disease.  Her husband would hold odd jobs and lived with his demons.  And it turned out he had Hepatitis C.  When his illness started to worsen, Ruth took care of him.  For the last year of his life he was mostly bedridden.  The family lived on food stamps, SSI, and Medicaid.

Her husband died November 14, 2005 at age 56.  She received three months of benefits from public assistance and SSI.  But she couldn’t see a way she’d be able to afford their apartment in East Flatbush, which cost $1,800/month, and was paid for by HASA.  She didn’t want to leave the neighborhood where her biracial kids felt comfortable, but they had no choice.  And with her contractual work for an inventory company, getting paid $10/hour, work that was irregular and unpredictable, she didn’t earn enough to cover the monthly expenses.

One of the mothers at the Park Slope school attended by her daughters told Ruth about CSS and, in particular, social worker Gustavo Martinez.  Within two weeks she had money for a one-month security for a new apartment in Midwood.  And, when she wanted her two younger daughters to go to the same camp they’d been to before, Mr. Martinez and CSS produced the $800 to pay for the camp.

Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn is a 40 year-old single, unemployed African-American woman who lives with her two young daughters in the Bronx. She has a master’s degree in forensic science and 17 years of experience working at the city’s social services agencies, but last year she was almost evicted from her apartment.

She is an example of the complexities that face single parents who hit financial hardship and start to spiral down into poverty.  In September 2004, she was laid off of her job as coordinator/case manager at an organization that turns run-down buildings into affordable housing.

After she was laid off, Gwendolyn received three months’ severance, $7,000 after taxes, which covered basic expenses and her girls’ Catholic School.  She started looking for work, sending out resumes. Her unemployment benefits were cut off after four months.

In February 2005, she started getting behind in paying her rent, which was $1,008 a month.  She contacted agencies looking for help.  No place could help her.  She says the experience was very demoralizing and that she was often treated rudely.  In the spring, she started being late in her payments to her daughters’ school.

Eventually, her arrears grew to be as much as $10,000. Thanks to the help of her fiancé, a legal assistant, she paid a good chunk of what she owed, “between $5,000 and $6,000.”  But she still owed $4,032.60 and she did not know where she was going to find it.

On August 16, 2005, she started a new job at PSI International teaching computer skills to new learners.  Three days later, she was given a Marshal’s notice, announcing her imminent eviction.  She went to the city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) to obtain assistance.

By August 24, when she still not had not heard news about her grant application from HRA, she contacted the Public Benefits Resource Center (PBRC) at CSS.  PBRC made several phone calls on her behalf and discovered that her paperwork had been lost.  When the file was discovered, it was found to contain incorrect information.  PBRC was able to resolve the problem with HRA and ensure that they’d assist her in paying a portion of her arrears.

PBRC also contacted the Social Services Department at CSS.  Gwendolyn met with a case manager who issued her a letter to take to the Marshal’s office, requesting an extension to prevent eviction.  She got the extension, and PBRC was able to assist in expediting her request for a grant through HRA for the rent arrears.  But, in needing to spend time to prevent the eviction, she missed four days of her work at her job and she lost it.  Gwendolyn continued to look for work.  CSS helped to pay her rent for the next month.

For additional information on “Making the Rent, 2002-2005: Changing Rent Burdens & Housing Hardships Among Low-Income New Yorkers,” go to www.cssny.org and listen to the audio clip to hear Senior Housing Policy Analyst Victor Bach and Housing Policy Analyst Tom Waters discuss the report.

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