Links to Other Major Articles
Almost
Homeless
By Jonathan L. Hafetz
Appeared in June issue of Legal Affairs
Ninety-eight percent of landlords in New York City have legal representation in housing court--compared to only 12 percent of tenants.
With this extreme disparity, tenants often rely on advice from counsel for their adversaries. And the results can be disastrous for tenants.
Jonathan L. Hafetz, a staff attorney for The Partnership for the Homeless, draws attention to the disparity and illustrates how tenants are often coaxed into accepting settlements that offer bad terms."Before approving these one attorney hallway agreements, many housing court judges briefly ask tenants whether they understood what they agreed to when they made the deal. But with over 300,000 housing court cases filed each year in New York City--each judge averages 7,000 cases a year--there's not much time or inclination for probing beneath the surface," Hafetz writes.
Too often, the result of this unequal access to representation is homelessness, he states.
To read the complete article, please click here.
Mayor
Bloomberg's Plan For Homeless Services
By Arnold S. Cohen
Appeared in Newsday, July 30, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg's strategic plan for homelessness fails to address low-income housing development.
You can also find this analysis under Position Papers in the Policy & Issues section.