Cut of Section 8 Vouchers Cruel and Costly, LSNYC Attorneys Testify

Legal Services NYC attorneys from every borough in New York City came together before the City Council on February 9th to give important testimony about the dramatic impact that the cuts of roughly 2,000 Section 8 vouchers will have on the city’s low-income residents.

The sudden cuts, announced in December, will affect Legal Services NYC clients like Patricia Argilagos, a mother who received a 6-month Section 8 guarantee in February 2009 after experiencing serious ongoing domestic violence.

Argilagos’ need for public assistance was extended after her abused pushed her out a window. She suffered severe back and leg injuries and was briefly in a coma, but survived. Her mobility was severely impaired, however.

Argilagos found a new apartment that accepted Section 8, but after transporting herself to Downtown Brooklyn to apply, she was rejected and told she could not extend or replace her Section 8 voucher because of cuts. She is afraid to be in her current apartment, because her abuser has not been apprehended.

Our attorneys testified:

This mass termination of Section 8 vouchers is unprecedented in the thirty-five year history of the Section 8 program. Unless a solution is found and found quickly, many of the tenants will wind up in the shelter system, at a cost far greater than that of replacing the Section 8 vouchers.

Although numbers have fluctuated slightly, the group of individuals affected includes at a minimum: 1,115 formerly homeless families with barriers to employment; 131 families with children in foster care awaiting reunification or youth aging out of foster care; 41 intimidated witnesses; 352 victims of domestic violence; and 293 “other” cases.

LSNYC attorneys testifying in opposition to the cuts included Jen Levy, acting Project Director of Legal Services NYC-Brooklyn Branch, Nancy Goldhill, Project Director at Staten Island Legal Services, Emma Alpert of the Brooklyn Family Defense Project, Emilie Eagan of South Brooklyn Legal Services, Chaumtoli Huq of Manhattan Legal Services, Kathryn Nielson of Legal Services NYC-Bronx, and David Robinson of the LSNYC Legal Support Unit. 

For media coverage of the issue, please visit WNYC.

Click here for the full testimony.