Settlement reached in landmark lawsuit over controversial New York City rental program
NEW YORK -- There are changes to a controversial New York City rental program that relocates homeless families across state lines. A settlement was reached in the landmark federal lawsuit CBS New York first reported on in 2019.
CBS New York's Lisa Rozner was part of the award-winning team that uncovered the "Forgotten Families" who were left living in deplorable conditions in New Jersey.
In February 2019, Harlem-native Sade Collington said her family, including two young kids, faced pressure to move out of a city shelter and into an uninhabitable home in East Orange, New Jersey.
"DHS just dropped our bags and walked away," Collington said at the time.
Thursday, she told Rozner, "We're still going to therapy and working through all the trauma."
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Under the Special One-Time Assistance Program, or SOTA, New York City covers the first year of rent for working homeless families who move outside the five boroughs.
In 2019, we found several landlords in Newark took tens of thousands of dollars and didn't provide heat or hot water. Some homes were infested.
Newark's mayor said he learned about the problems from CBS New York's reporting and found most of the families -- around 1,200 -- were relocated to his city.
In late 2019, Newark sued New York City in federal court and relocations were put on hold. But that's about to change.
This week, the cities announced a settlement that mandates New York City provides quarterly SOTA reports with:
- the number of units, addresses and inspections
- landlord and broker names
If more than seven households are moved per quarter, the parties will meet.
"The idea of the settlement is that the parties will be able to ensure that everybody is doing well and doesn't need additional support to stay stable and remain in place," said Josh Goldfein, with the Legal Aid Society.
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It's not clear if New York City is still pressuring people to utilize the program.
In a statement, the Department of Homeless Services said in part, "It is critical to ensuring that our clients can make the same choices as every other New Yorker who decides to move and re-settle outside of NYC and that the City can honor and support that choice every way we can."
Newark's legal counsel said, "The City of Newark's intention was always to ensure that families who were relocated here were placed in safe, habitable apartments with an opportunity to thrive."
Collington said the city helped her find Section 8 housing on the Lower East Side, which she believes is because of attention CBS New York brought to her situation.
"It changed our lives. If not, I don't know where we would have been," said Collington.
While she's glad chances have been made to SOTA, she feels the program isn't a long-term solution to the homelessness crisis.