NYCHA community rejects de Blasio's blueprint for displacement

 

Queens Eagle

New York City Housing Authority residents and advocates released a letter Monday in opposition to a scheduled public comment period on a plan to reform NYCHA that the groups say has already been shut down by the community.

The public comment period for the Draft Significant Amendment is slated to open July 27, but advocates say that the proposed plan is based on the Blueprint Plan, which was withdrawn following opposition. The groups added that the public comment period was rushed and that residents are largely unaware of the details of the plan or now face barriers to participating in the hearing.

“It is disrespectful to NYCHA tenants and stakeholders, and does not show a faithful or genuine interest in tenant feedback or democratic participation by NYCHA,” organizers wrote.

The letter was signed by Save Section 9, Justice For All Coalition CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities, Sunrise NYC, Ojala Threads Inc., New York Communities for Change, Holmes-Isaac Coalition, Gun Hill Houses, St. Mary's Park Houses E.Roosevelt Resident Council and Brooklyn West Council of Presidents.

Save Section 9 Co-lead organizer Ramona Ferreyra, a resident of Mitchel Houses in the Bronx, said that organizers only heard about the hearing after learning of an email sent to local elected officials “so the average tenant doesn't know.”

“It's a sham,” she said. “For the last year we have made it clear we do not support Blueprint.”

“When the plan was born… we communicated to the federal monitor that we would not accept it; obviously the federal monitor and NYCHA leadership continued to ignore tenants and undermine our ability to participate in what should be a democratic process,” Ferreyra added. “They're ignoring the process, ignoring our right to participate in the process and most infuriating is that since December at every stage of the plan we said no.”

In addition to alleging limited access for technologically-challenged residents who would otherwise participate, they say that instead of drawing a plan that faced significant opposition, the housing authority should prioritize resident input — which they have allegedly failed to do.

Apartment denied, deposit pilfered

From PIX11:

Demaris Morales and her mom Delia need help getting a new apartment in Queens. Why? Because they gave a $6,600 deposit to a broker they knew as “William” at Britati Realty in Woodhaven.

Demaris and her mom are Section 8 tenants. They’re housing is assisted by the federal government. But they told us “William” never permitted the Section 8 inspector to check out the Jamaica apartment they wanted. And next thing they knew, another tenant was in there.

So, of course, “William” gave them their money back, right?

Of course not. If he did the right thing I wouldn’t be involved.

Oh, and by the way, it appears “William” may actually be Anthony Ferrerosa. He’s used both names. In 2013, The NYC Commission on Human Rights found “William” and “Anthony” were the same person. And fined Ferrerosa $7,500 for discriminating against tenants with subsidies or vouchers.

Anyway, when we went over to his office, “William” wasn’t very happy to see us. First, he said there was a paper the ladies had signed that seemed to suggest he was off the hook. No such paper exists. And then he bolted out the door and then just walked away.

Housing project residents ripping off the system

From the Daily News:

A slew of public housing tenants ripped off the taxpayers by under-reporting income to inflate their benefits, the city Department of Investigation charged Friday.

Over the last few weeks, 17 tenants have been charged with stealing public funds, including 12 who deliberately hid income-producing husbands and other relatives to collect more federal rent subsidies.

Two tenants even managed to pull this off despite the fact that their husbands worked for the city, according to DOI Commissioner Mark Peters.

One tenant got the federal subsidy, known as Section 8, without reporting that her husband was the super in the privately owned Section 8 building where they lived.

Scam artists squatting in woman's home

From WPIX:

Corrine Butt decided to rent her downstairs apartment to tenants who would have some of their rent paid by the federally sponsored Section 8 program. She chose Paula Rivers and her family.

For the first year, Corrine says things were great. Then they stopped paying on time according to Corrine. Now she hasn’t gotten a cent from them in six months. And to top it off, Corrine says everyone in Rivers’ family is employed!

“I served notice in December,” Corrine told me. “And she started to bang on the floors at night when she comes home from work.”

And that’s far from the worst of it. Corrine says Paula slammed a door on her finger. They’re intentionally breaking things and then taking her to court to complain. Police have been called, complaints filed. It’s costing Corrine time and money — and maybe her health.

Court forces homeowner to rent for free

From the NY Post:

The city Housing Authority forced a Brooklyn homeowner to keep renting an apartment to a homeless woman who had lost her subsidies, even after the agency stopped paying her rent, a new lawsuit charges.

Adding insult to injury, homeowner Patrice James says in her Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit, the woman trashed the apartment, leaving it a rodent-infested wreck.

James, 40, rented the upstairs apartment of her East Flatbush multifamily house to a homeless woman named Amy Chambliss in 2003, signing a two-year Section 8 lease for $1,134 per month, the suit states.

Section 8 is a rent-assistance program for low-income people funded by the federal government and administered in New York City by NYCHA.

When Chambliss lost her Section 8 status a year later and James tried to kick her out, NYCHA persuaded a Brooklyn judge to stay the eviction, the lawsuit claims.

Neither NYCHA nor Chambliss paid James anything for the last year of the lease or the additional six months it took James to evict Chambliss, the suit states.

James fought to recoup her lost income, but ­NYCHA sent her a letter in February 2014 slapping down her request.

Inconsiderate crap

"249-27 88th Road

This is new - that's not a driveway, plus he's blocking the sidewalk. It also means that there are too many people in this tiny 2-bedroom triangle house.

They don't even own the house - they are section 8 renters (yet they own a BMW). This house has thousands of dollars in unpaid violations.

House is also starting to sink/settle. The front steps are lopsided now.

This house was featured previously on your blog." - Anonymous

When Section 8 runs out

From the NY Post:

Queens landlord Debra Samuels says her only tenant hasn’t paid the $1,590 rent in more than a year — putting her two-family home in jeopardy.

The cash crunch has put Samuels and her husband, who run a restaurant together, behind on their mortgage for the two-family Far Rockaway home.

Samuels was to receive $1,201 a month from the city’s Section 8 housing assistance program toward tenant Natalie Bryant’s rent. Bryant, who lives in a two-bedroom apartment with her two children, was responsible for $389 a month.

Samuels said she got a notice from the city in February 2011 that Bryant was kicked out of the Section 8 program because the tenant did not do her annual recertification.

Samuels, in order to reclaim her property, filed a case against Bryant in Housing Court only to find out in November that she had brought the wrong kind of case.
She hired a lawyer and started eviction proceedings. During a court date last month, Bryant signed an agreement to leave on April 30, but then ripped it up when she was before the judge, Samuels said. The next court date is in May.

City paid dead people's rent

From the Daily News:

A shocking new audit from city Controller John Liu discovered that city bureaucrats paid out $11.8 million in rent subsidies in recent years to nearly 4,000 people too dead to enjoy them.

Instead, their landlords or relatives cashed in.

"There's no excuse for losing this much money - management lapse, willful fraud or otherwise," Liu said in a statement.

His office turned its findings over to Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. to determine if any crimes were committed.

City officials say they've already recouped $3.3 million of the posthumous profit - and vowed to collect the rest as soon as possible.

They say they had spotted some of the errors even before Liu flagged the screwups - and began implementing safeguards to make sure the dead are never again on the city dole.

Section 8 program may run out of money

From the NY Times:

Because of a $45 million budget gap, the New York City Housing Authority may have to revoke rental-assistance vouchers from more than 10,000 low-income tenants, a drastic move that could cause families to lose their apartments.

The federal government gave the housing authority less money for the voucher program, known as Section 8, than the authority expected. But the authority made matters worse by continuing to issue new vouchers until December, eight months after the government warned it to stop doing so because the program was likely to run a deficit.

Michael P. Kelly, the authority’s general manager, said that terminating vouchers would be a last resort. The authority has not decided who might lose their vouchers, but if the deficit is not closed, the cuts could begin this summer.

The agency is seeking federal and state funding to avert the voucher cuts. But the state is facing a huge deficit. Sandra Henriquez, an assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that HUD would review the housing authority’s books, but she added that “they cannot and should not expect that the federal government will cover the shortfall.”

As an alternative, the housing authority is considering reducing the value of each voucher, meaning that landlords, tenants or both would have to absorb the cost.

Under Section 8, residents typically pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, and the voucher covers the balance. In New York City, about 102,000 families now have vouchers, which are administered by the authority and allow families to live in units where private landlords accept Section 8 benefits. An additional 178,000 or so families live in public housing complexes owned by the authority.

After the authority voided 2,600 outstanding vouchers in December, prompting an outcry from affected families, it urged people to apply for public housing, although the waiting list is years long.

HUD provides money for the Section 8 vouchers and tells housing authorities the maximum number they can use. In May, HUD told the New York City Housing Authority it was in danger of exceeding its allotted number.

How many more cases like this are out there?

From WNYC:

As the city and state continue to negotiate, Luis Cruz will continue to check the mail each month in search of a receipt that says his rent has been paid. So far he’s good through February. But he says, “At any moment there could be a knock on the door and someone could say DHS is no longer paying your rent. Are you going to pay it yourself or leave.”

Cruz’s family would not be able to pay the rent on their own. The family came from Puerto Rico and went straight into a city shelter. The family says they originally came to New York in search of medical care. Cruz says doctors in Puerto Rico never controlled his wife's diabetes and now she is blind, suffers from arthritis, and depression and requires his 24 hour care.

He opens a refrigerator full of insulin. Cruz says his 8-year-old daughter is also mentally ill. The family survives off $1,300 a month in disability payments. Last year about 1,600 families with a disabled family member left the shelter system. Cruz says as for his family, they hope to never have to go back.

I suppose this piece was supposed to make me feel sorry for these folks. Nice try, but after I paid my tax bill this month, that ain't happening.

Why in the hell do we not have a residency requirement for these benefits? The world can darken our doorstep and beg for our money, and we New York State taxpayers, like the jackasses we are, pay for it. Our taxes go up year after year because our elected officials have never met a welfare case they don't fall in love with, no matter where they come from. All because of the tweeding.

Pass a law that you have to reside in NYC and state and pay taxes here for 5 years in order to get benefits from us. There's a residency requirement to get a freaking library card but none to live off taxpayer money. How backwards is that?

Additional question: Is the US destined to become a refugee camp?

Answer: We already are!

NYC Revoking More Than 3,000 Housing Vouchers

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City has to revoke more than 3,000 vouchers that poor residents were counting on to help pay for housing.

The New York City Housing Authority said Thursday it has to void 3,018 subsidized housing vouchers known as Section 8. They had already been distributed to people who were counting on them.

The housing authority said it had to pull the vouchers because Congress cut $58 million from its Section 8 budget last spring. There has also been less turnover in the program and more of a demand than expected.

The housing authority gives out about 100,000 vouchers per year. The average voucher is for $800 a month.