"I can't see myself in a shelter again:" HSP's Revolving Door

Aida Lugo spent a year and a half in and out of domestic violence shelters before she was offered Housing Stability Plus (HSP), the city’s rental subsidy program developed in 2004 due to a shortage of Section 8 vouchers.

Aida was skeptical of HSP. At thirty-two years old, she had lived in Bushwick all her life and wanted to live there with her 5 children, but the only apartment her caseworker offered her was in Far Rockaway. The yearly step-down also concerned her—unlike Section 8, under HSP, the rental supplement decreases by 20% annually. Tenants pay rent in full by the fifth year.

Warned that she had no other choice, Aida accepted the program and moved to her new apartment in August 2005. “They told me I had to take that apartment or else they were going to send me back to the EAU (Emergency Assistance Unit),” she said. Her landlord promised repairs from the beginning, including replacing a moldy rug and taking care of a mice and roach problem. Three years later the repairs have not been made, while Aida’s children suffer from asthma. The family has lived without hot water for a month.

In 2007 Aida started receiving letters stating that her landlord was in debt and a bank was foreclosing the building. Aida took upwards of ten letters to the Human Resources Administration (welfare) office in Manhattan, but each month she was notified that the landlord was still receiving his $588 rent payment from the city. Since HRA was not in communication with the landlord, there is no way to know if he simply pocketed the money.

Aida took her eviction notices to Brooklyn Housing Court on June 19, where she was informed that she must move out by September 15. She got ready to look for a new apartment, assuming she still had 2 more years on HSP.

On August 28, when Aida did not receive her monthly benefits, she discovered that her case had been closed since July 17. She never received notification of the change, nor did HRA ever explain why her case had been closed. Aida has paperwork from a trip to HRA on July 14, stating that her case was open. Nevertheless, she had to go through the application process again, the same process she completed almost four years ago in the shelter. HRA informed Aida that until she had a new case, she would have to take her family back to a shelter.

Aida, who takes medication for a nervous disorder, spent six hysterical hours battling with caseworkers at HRA. “I can’t see myself in a shelter with me and my kids again. I can’t take it—my kids and I have gone through enough emotional distress,” she said. She was denied a Metrocard before she hassled an employee for one.

Aida met Nikita Price, the lead organizer for the Rental Subsidies Campaign at Picture the Homeless, on July 14. Nikita arranged a meeting for HSP clients with Susan Nayowith, Director of Client Advocacy at the Department of Homeless Services, which administers HSP. At that meeting, Aida’s story was heard by a panel of client advocates. They offered her Fixed Income Advantage, one of a number of new Advantage rental subsidies rolled out to replace HSP. She received $1300 for a 3 bedroom apartment.

Asked to describe the issues that could be addressed by the welfare system, Aida said that HRA employees need to stay in better contact with clients, have more local HRA offices so clients living in neighborhoods like Far Rockaway do not have to travel to Harlem without access to a Metrocard, and generally hire more competent, compassionate employees.

In reference to the DHS meeting arranged by Picture the Homeless, Aida said, “If I wouldn’t have had that meeting I don’t know what would have happened. I would have been back in the shelter. I think I really would have lost it.”