New York City Housing Authority terminated Section 8 rent subsidies for hundreds of tenants at privately managed public housing developments in East New York and sent them eviction notices, even though those tenants had been paying rent on time, according to BK Reader’s report on an investigation by The City.
The error hit tenants in buildings managed by private firms under NYCHA’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together program, known as PACT. Under PACT, the city housing authority hands day-to-day management of public housing to private operators while retaining ownership of the land.
The cause appears to be a paperwork failure inside NYCHA, according to BK Reader’s summary of The City’s reporting. The authority terminated tenants’ Section 8 vouchers because those tenants had failed to complete their annual recertification, a required process in which voucher holders document their income and household makeup. A scanning backlog at NYCHA meant the agency lost track of documentation that tenants had already submitted.
The nonprofit New York Legal Assistance Group told The City it had fielded hundreds of calls in recent months from tenants at PACT developments who were facing eviction notices tied to recertification problems.
The housing advocacy group Metro Industrial Areas Foundation held a rally in East New York to draw attention to the issue. The group singled out three developments where they say hundreds of families are fighting to keep their apartments: the Linden, Boulevard, and Penn-Wortman Houses.
NYCHA spokesman Andrew Sklar acknowledged the problem in a statement to The City. “NYCHA has met with legal and advocacy groups to discuss a scanning backlog issue the Authority experienced which resulted in erroneous termination warning letters being sent to some households,” Sklar said. “This scanning backlog has since been resolved and we are committed to improving our systems and processes as well as our communication with residents regarding their legal obligations.”
