Adi Talwar
Buildings in the East Village.
The stalled Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) has issued just $1.2 million of the $2.7 billion on hand to landlords owed pandemic-related back rent.
The board’s resolution rejects the rezoning proposal for the wealthy neighborhoods outright, rather than submit suggestions for improvement, arguing the plan would fail to achieve the city’s affordable housing goals.
Adults approved for supportive housing will be precluded from applying for the federal rent vouchers—which attorneys and advocates say cuts off a path to housing for thousands of shelter residents and functions as a proxy for mental health disability discrimination.
With the city’s hotel shelter transfers once again imminent, City Limits reached out to nonprofit providers to talk with shelter staff and visit the buildings where the city puts up New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.
A 2019 survey of CUNY undergraduates found that 14 percent had been homeless over the previous year—including 18 percent of community college students—while 55 percent said they experienced housing insecurity.
The 14 building-deal marks the third time the city has purchased cluster site properties to convert into permanent homes. It also illustrates the complicated reliance on bad landlords to provide temporary shelter—and the business of handing those same owners tens of millions of dollars for their buildings.
With seven weeks to go before state eviction protections expire, New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) has yet to cut a single check, and the organizations tasked with helping tenants say they’re hamstrung by inefficiencies.
The city must provide written notice to shelter residents at least a week before scheduled moves out of hotels, and ensure those with disabilities are informed of the right to request “reasonable accommodations” at least five days before a transfer, the judge ruled.
The property owner, a company connected to an infamous family of landlords, has yet to begin repairs, and tenants in six apartments say building staff have pressured them to return to shelters while they await a large-scale fix with no definitive timeline.
The legal motion, filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, accuses the city of a one-size-fits-all strategy that violates the rights of disabled shelter residents to accessible dwellings.