City Backtracks on CityFHEPs Voucher Incentive, Will Subject Rule Change to Public Review

After a judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city from forthwith eliminating an incentive that pays landlords to hold vacant units for CityFHEPs voucher holders the city decided to put the rule change through the official community review process New York County Supreme Court located at Centre St where the CityFHEPS circumstance is playing out Adi Talwar City Limits Incentives for landlords to hold units for CityFHEPs voucher holders will continue at least temporarily after a court appearance Thursday morning where lawyers for the City of New York stated their intention to send the rule change through an official citizens review process The incentive pays one month s rent for voucher holders moving into housing from shelter while the city processes their applications As City Limits first released the Department of Social Services DSS had in a late May email communicated that it would be ending the payment in an effort to rein in costs The Legal Aid Society and a group of voucher holders sued arguing the decision was made without a good reason and without going through the official process for campaign rule changes called the City Administrative Procedure Act CAPA function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' They won a temporary restraining order to preserve the incentive on June Thursday morning a judge extended a preliminary injunction to halt the changes You re preliminarily enjoined from making changes until the finalization of such a rule revealed Judge Lyle Frank to the petitioners and respondents in court Thursday morning Tenants moving into housing with CityFHEPs vouchers pay percent of their income on rent The project has grown significantly in latest years with more than households moving into housing with a voucher in fiscal year a percent increase to a total of assisted households Landlords brokers lawyers and tenants described City Limits that eliminating the payment would make it harder for landlords to take CityFHEPS with one real estate group previously describing the venture as cumbersome lengthy and convoluted It s already intricate for CityFHEPs holders to find building owners who will rent to them though rejecting a tenant because of how they pay their rent a practice known as source of income discrimination is illegal under the city s human rights law Advocacy groups supporting homeless New Yorkers celebrated the injunction It seems the Adams administration will go to the ends of the Earth including through frivolous legal action to make life even more demanding for New Yorkers in need stated Christine Quinn chief operating officer for Women In Need in a message DSS previously narrated City Limits that the rule did not have to go through the official CAPA review process because the incentive was not an official rule of the CityFHEPs scheme when it began and that the agency can allocate information as it sees fit But after the judge issued an initial temporary restraining order the city has since decided to send the rule change through the CAPA process which includes providing the residents with a minimum of days to review and comment on the proposal DSS commented no changes would be made to the scheme until after the review is complete That process could begin next week Eric Hiatt senior counsel at NYC Law Department reported Judge Frank though neither he nor DSS conceded that the rule change should have gone through CAPA in the first place The City Law Department declined to comment further on the scenario DSS in response to written questions from City Limits explained the decision to pursue CAPA was to take a more proactive approach and respond to concerns raised by advocates and area members DSS previously explained City Limits that it eliminated the incentive which had been a feature of the CityFHEPs campaign since it began in because it had new evidence systems that would make processing voucher applications faster Housing advocates at a rally outside City Hall in to call for expanding CityFHEPS Gerardo Romo NYC Council Media Unit Eliminating the extra month s rent payment DSS indicates was part of a plan to reduce costs as the budget for the CityFHEPs scheme has grown fivefold since to billion in fiscal year DSS previously notified City Limits that the average time to process voucher applications was about three weeks An audit by the state comptroller s office last year located that it can sometimes take much longer DSS disputes the findings of the comptroller s assessment We re not buying the days argument It s not days Unless they totally revamp the process to really streamline it and make it under a month these problems are gonna exist explained Pavita Krishnaswamy supervising attorney at Legal Aid who argued the scenario Thursday morning Judge Frank declined to take further action like ruling if ending the incentive was lawful before the society review process completed They could decide the next morning through the CAPA process to keep the project I just think it s premature stated Judge Frank Legal Aid s Krishnaswamy maintained that they will fight the rule change regardless arguing that there are tens of thousands of people in shelters who rely on the incentive It will have the effect whether you go through CAPA or not of harming petitioners and this entire class of individuals reported Pavita Legal Aid mentioned that if the rule change goes through CAPA and the city still decides to eliminate the incentive they will continue to sue on grounds that the move is arbitrary and capricious in other words it was made without a good reason It makes no sense and the incentive is saving the city tons of money revealed Krishnaswamy It is in the city s interest and the petitioner s interest for people to be moved out of shelters into affordable permanent housing The unit incentive in our experience is one of the only things that makes it accomplishable for them to move out To reach the reporter behind this story contact Patrick citylimits org To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint plan here The post City Backtracks on CityFHEPs Voucher Incentive Will Subject Rule Change to Society Review appeared first on City Limits