Requires the New York city housing authority, in reviewing applicants, to grant homeless domestic violence victims the same preference as granted the homeless

3 Co-sponsors

• Tony Avella
• Adriano Espaillat
• José Peralta

BILL NUMBER:S4558A

Title of bill

An act to amend the public housing law, in relation to preferences and priorities for prospective public housing and section 8 tenants in the city of New York

Purpose or general idea of bill

Requires the New York City Housing Authority, in reviewing applicants, to grant homeless domestic violence victims the same preference as granted the homeless

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1. Amends paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section 402-b of the public housing law, as added by chapter 3 of the laws of 2010, to provide that residency in a city owned, operated or contracted domestic violence shelter shall be treated the same a residency in a city owned, operated or contracted homeless shelter, for purposes of calculating an applicant's priority status for public housing

Section 2. Effective immediately

Justification

The New York City Housing Authority currently has a significant backlog of qualified applicants for its available units, meaning that individuals and families often wait years to obtain public housing. Adding to this delay is the fact that preference categories have been created to move specific categories of applicants with particularly pressing housing needs to the top of the list. NYCHA has recently reinstated a top N-0 priority for applicants who have spent more than a year in a New York City homeless shelter. Domestic violence survivors are allowed to count time spent in a city-owned domestic violence shelter toward the one-year requirement, but not time spent in shelters operated by outside non-profits. Because the city-owned domestic violence shelter has a six month maximum length of stay, a resident or family would have to transfer to a city homeless shelter for six months instead of a privately-operated domestic violence shelter in order to qualify for N-0 status and maximize their chance of obtaining public housing. No family should be forced to choose between the security and vital services offered in a domestic violence shelter and the chance to obtain permanent housing.

Prior legislative history

New Legislation

Fiscal implications

None to the state.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.