Tenants Sue NYCHA for System-wide Rent Overcharges, Wrongful Eviction Proceedings Against Tenants Who Cannot Afford Illegal Rents

December 13, 2019, New York, NY – Today, Legal Services NYC announced it filed a federal lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) for unlawfully overcharging rents and wrongfully initiating eviction proceedings against tenants when they could not afford the illegal rents.

Nine tenants named in today’s lawsuit are charging NYCHA with pattern and practice violations of federal housing law for repeatedly failing to adjust their monthly rents after their household incomes changed, despite multiple requests. Federal housing law, which caps rents in public housing at 30 percent of tenants’ income, requires NYCHA to reexamine tenants’ household rents annually and on an interim basis following a request when there are changes to tenants’ income or household composition. In this case, NYCHA failed to accurately adjust tenants’ rents, raised rents for some due to miscalculations and errors, and wrongfully moved to evict tenants for nonpayment, putting tenants and their families at risk of homelessness.

“NYCHA doesn’t treat tenants with any kind of respect,” said Yvonne Lane, a public housing tenant of 47 years who was overcharged for months. “After I retired, I brought my Social Security award letter down to NYCHA to adjust my rent and the people at the front desk gave me all sorts of attitude. On top of that, even though I received a rent addendum showing my lower adjusted rent, I still received rent notices from NYCHA charging me the higher rent. Then they tried to evict me. It’s not right. I was in and out of court because NYCHA made a mistake and the whole thing stressed me and my family out.”

“In a City where affordable housing is at a premium, overcharging low-income tenants rent and then proactively trying to evict them when they cannot afford it is beyond the pale,” said Edward Josephson, Director of Litigation and Housing at Legal Services NYC. “NYCHA’s repeated failure to adjust rents is not only illegal but inexcusable as it puts these tenants and countless others like them at risk of homelessness. It is hard enough being poor in New York City; the last thing tenants in public housing need are illegal rent overcharges and unnecessary hurdles that threaten to destabilize their entire lives. These tenants deserve better and we won’t stop fighting until NYCHA fixes these broken practices so that public housing tenants can afford to stay in their homes.”
 
Read more in the Wall Street Journal here.

Under federal housing law, rent for tenants in public housing is capped at 30 percent of their household income. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires all public housing agencies, including NYCHA, to reexamine household rent annually and on an interim basis as necessary. Under the law, families have the right to request an interim reexamination of their rent for any change to income or composition since the last determination, which could include employment layoffs, cutback in hours, a change in family composition, increase in childcare costs, increase in unreimbursed medical costs, and other circumstances that decreases household income. Federal law requires agencies to make rent reexaminations within a reasonable time and NYCHA’s own policies state that tenants’ reduced rent should take effect the first of the month following the date the income change occurred.

In today’s suit, tenants are charging NYCHA with pattern and practice violations of federal law for routinely failing to adjust their rents within a reasonable time frame, improperly setting rents based on previous incomes or income families never had, setting wrong effective dates for adjusted rents, miscalculating rents completely, and failing to give tenants notice of rent determinations, calculations, or their right to challenge rent determinations resulting in months and even years of illegal rent overcharges and unlawful eviction proceedings.

One tenant in Staten Island who has lived in public housing for 20 years reduced her work hours at her temp agency job. Despite multiple requests to NYCHA to adjust her rent, NYCHA continued to overcharge her more than $600 a month which she could not afford. When NYCHA moved to evict her for nonpayment, the tenant withdrew $4,000 from her retirement account to pay the overcharges. Another 83 year old tenant who has lived in the same public housing complex in Staten Island for 50 years was unlawfully overcharged nearly $400 a month after NYCHA miscalculated her rent. Despite multiple attempts by her family to correct NYCHA’s error, NYCHA commenced eviction proceedings against her for rent she never should have been charged.

Tenants are now asking the court for damages and to force NYCHA to properly readjust their rents, provide retroactive credit for overcharged rents, and implement policies and procedures that comply with federal housing and due process with respect to the timely processing of interim adjustment of tenants’ rents.

Read the full complaint here.
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