Joining Forces with the Public Advocate to Help Tenants

A woman living in public housing repeatedly tried to get her daughter and grandchildren added to the lease of her apartment. Instead, the housing authority tried to evict her for having an under occupied apartment. The Tenant Advocacy Project (TAP) represented her and got the housing authority to drop the termination proceeding and allow her to add her daughter and grandchildren to the lease.

A woman in Section 8 housing had her benefits terminated for allegedly failing to recertify. Yet she was never sent the application for recertification. TAP got her benefits restored retroactively to the date they were terminated.

Resolving Problems

Bureaucratic bungles, lost paperwork, changing rules – these are the everyday problems faced by New Yorkers living in federally subsidized housing. With so many New Yorkers in need of help, the Tenant Advocacy Project realized that it would be impossible to assist every tenant facing housing problems. So TAP began a training program to strengthen the housing expertise of community organizations around the city. Staff from over 450 such agencies, who see a total of approximately 135,000 families with housing problems per year, have already attended TAP workshops.

People trained by TAP provide representation in administrative hearings that often decide whether clients will keep or lose their homes. Their advocacy prevents problems from becoming crises leading to evictions and homelessness, and TAP is there to provide back-up expertise.

TAP was established in 2003 as a collaboration between the Community Service Society (CSS) and Betsy Gotbaum, the Public Advocate of the City of New York. Its chief aims are to provide New Yorkers with assistance and information in dealing with federal housing subsidies and to use these programs as a first line of defense against the city’s recent surge in homelessness and housing hardships.

More than a million New Yorkers live in federally subsidized housing – public housing and Section 8 apartments. Nearly 30 percent have a household income below the federal poverty level. Without subsidized housing, most of them would find it impossible to live in the city.

In a city where even the relatively affluent sometimes have trouble finding a decent apartment, low-income New Yorkers face an almost insurmountable challenge. Sixty-five percent of poor renters in New York City spend over half their incomes paying for their housing.

TAP’s strategy is
uniquely effective

Not surprisingly, CSS’s annual survey of low-income New Yorkers shows that their greatest worry is about housing. Last year, 33 percent of low-income New Yorkers fell behind on rent payments. For these families, eviction and homelessness are constant threats. Housing stability affects all other family concerns. An unstable housing situation threatens jobholding and children’s schooling. The stress and hardship contribute to domestic violence and substance abuse.

TAP’s strategy is uniquely effective as it addresses the housing crisis at several levels. TAP provides frontline assistance to families in crisis. Its trainings have created a network of knowledgeable advocates. Its upcoming publications empower residents of federally subsidized housing.

Cost-Effective

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum’s joint endeavor with TAP provides an efficient, cost-effective way to resolve consumer problems. Helping families avoid eviction and homelessness yields substantial savings for the city’s taxpayers. Each family averted from the city shelter system, on average, saves the city $29,500 a year in costs.

CSS responds to the problems of low-income New Yorkers with model programs like the Tenant Advocacy Project. Our goal is to provide the tools for those in poverty to empower themselves, and, ultimately, to build a stronger city for us all.

TAP and Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum are publishing a series of guides to educate residents of federally subsidized housing in dealing with housing problems. The first, “Housing Answers,” will be available at the Public Advocate’s Office on August 22. You can also download "Housing Answers" (PDF) from the CSS website.

If you need help with federal housing subsidies – either as a tenant or making an application – contact the Public Advocate’s Ombudsman Services Hotline at 212-669-7250, or Jacqueline Burger at CSS at 212-614-5311 or e-mail jburger@cssny.org.

From the New York Amsterdam News
August 11 - 17, 2005