Housing and Homelessness
NYC Housing Calendar, Oct. 19-27
Mariam Hydara |
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
Non-profit developers and tenants rights advocates have also been sounding the alarm on the need to create more income-restricted apartments across the five boroughs and to keep existing renters stably housed, especially in communities of color.
Tenant attorneys, advocates and policymakers say the delays that Nichols has encountered demonstrate the flaws of the city’s code enforcement program, and the limits of a housing court system that can move at a glacial pace when it comes to holding owners accountable for unsafe conditions.
“Our goal is to intervene and disrupt the eviction process,” one organizer said at a rally outside Bronx Housing Court Thursday. “We’ve always known the eviction moratorium is a temporary measure [but] it made it possible for our members to dream of a world without evictions.”
“What we need to do is to ensure that, no matter how much money you’re making, you can access a free attorney if you’re at risk of eviction,” North Brooklyn Councilmember Lincoln Restler said during an appearance on WBAI’s City Watch Sunday.
For the first time in nearly two years, New York’s expansive COVID-related eviction protections have come to an end for tenants who owe back rent. Landlords are rejoicing, renters are feeling the heat and city officials are bracing for impact.
All tenants in New York City Housing Court now have a right to legal assistance, with lower-income renters eligible for full representation from nonprofit attorneys through an initiative funded with $166 million in the latest budget.
‘When you see that line stretch down the block and wrap around the corner, you’ll know things are back to normal,’ one housing advocate said. ‘It’s going to snowball at some point and it’s going to start rolling down the hill.’
The country’s highest court struck down a key portion of the state’s eviction protections, which allowed tenants to fend off Housing Court proceedings by swearing they had experienced a COVID-related financial hardship.