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Legal Services of the Hudson Valley has filed a federal lawsuit against the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and the New York State Homes and Community Renewal on behalf of several tenants of a southwest Yonkers housing project.
In it, they claim the agencies ignored resident’s pleas for help as the landlord of the federally subsidized building along Riverdale Avenue tried to pass off monthly electricity charges, ranging from $300 to $600, onto low-income tenants. When the residents couldn’t pay, they were threatened with eviction, the lawsuit said.
Barbara Finkelstein, CEO of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, said it was “shocking that HUD and New York state would take no steps to intervene.”
HUD and NY HCR did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
LSHV, a group that provides counsel in non-criminal cases for low-income individuals and families who cannot afford to pay an attorney, filed the federal suit May 3.
It contends that residents of the 343-unit Riverview Courts complex were hit with sub-metered electricity charges in the form of “added rent” under a lease that NYS HCR directed their landlords to use, in violation of federal law.
The landlord then attempted to evict low-income tenants who couldn’t pay the charges.
“Plaintiffs and many of their neighbors, who are largely minorities, disabled, and elderly, live with the constant threat of eviction,” LSHV said in a statement.
As the charges grew, and with the threat of eviction looming, residents became more desperate, Finkelstein said.
“Some of these tenants, disabled and elderly, tried without success to shut off the heat in their apartments during the winter to stop the mounting charges,” she said.
Residents repeatedly took their complaints to HUD and NYS HCR, requesting an investigation into whether sub-metering is allowed under the federal laws that govern the housing project.
However, neither agency acted on the requests, LSHV said.
While none of the plaintiffs in the case were evicted from their homes, many of their neighbors have been, while others moved out to avoid displacement, LSHV lawyers said.
Greg Louis, an attorney with the group, said the residents simply want HUD and the NYS HCR to enforce the law so that “the tenants do not lose their federally subsidized housing due to exorbitant electricity bills they cannot effectively control.”
He suggested there may be a desire to not enforce the law as the low-income apartments sit in what is turning into prime real estate.
“The fact that this housing occupied by low-income tenants is now becoming more desirable due to redevelopment efforts in Yonkers is not a reason to ignore the law,” he said.
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