Public Employee Press

MELS fights Section 8 cutoffs

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Joan and Harold Spaulding have been on pins and needles fearing eviction since the New York City Housing Authority wrongfully terminated their Section 8 rent subsidy in January.

Fighting on their side are the lawyers of DC37's Municipal Employees Legal Services, who are working to restore the subsidies to dozens of union families.

"This is not our fault," said Joan, whose husband is a Task Force Monitor in Local 372. "After many requests, we received the recertification package months late. We submitted it by the deadline, but we were still terminated. We've paid our share of the rent, but our landlord hasn't received the Section 8 share since February."

The Spauldings depend on the federally funded subsidy to stay in their Queens apartment with their children, Jabari, 11, and Caliph, 14. The Housing Authority promised to process their recertification but instead closed their case.

Section 8, now closed to new applicants, paid $400 of the $1,600 rent on Charmaine Johnson's two-bedroom flat. The Local 1549 member mailed her annual recertification in October but learned she had been terminated after her landlord said he had not received the Section 8 share for February.

"We are handling 20 cases where families were terminated allegedly because of missing paperwork," said MELS Attorney Ann Fawcett Ambia. MELS won some reinstatements after getting reviews through a top NYCHA manager.

When the Spauldings and Johnsons got non-responsive form letters denying restoration, MELS pressed for individual reviews. "Errors stemmed from centralizing the bureaucracy under the Bloomberg administration, backlogs in scanning documents, computer glitches and a lack of accountability," Ambia said.

The new system gives each package a bar code, and local offices cannot provide duplicates when the original does not arrive. "Members should document the process to prove they have recertified and request a hearing in writing if they are terminated," Ambia said. "The new applications are complicated, and recipients have to call a centralized number, where they often get incorrect information."

The NYCHA manager has now agreed to work closely with MELS on immediate restoration for the Spauldings and Johnsons. But Johnson's landlord is trying to evict her, and her ceilings have collapsed. "Every time it rains, it rains inside," she said. Section 8 requires the apartment to pass inspection before reinstating her, but the landlord claims he needs the full rent to afford the repairs.

"Members are forced out with no grounds," said MELS Supervising Attorney Vincent Gagliardi. "The agency doesn't acknowledge their responsibility in creating this mess. The program is helpful, but the process is convoluted and they blow off people in need."

Any member wrongfully terminated from Section 8 should call MELS at 212-815-1111.