How To Get Help If You Live in an Apartment With Project-Based Rental Assistance

A City Limits scrutiny revealed essential issues with the undertaking which helps chosen New Yorkers afford housing at buildings across the city Here s how to know if you live in one of these apartments and how to get help if you do Jose Tolentino a PBRA tenant who in the last few days spoke to City Limits about his issues navigating the plan Adi Talwar City Limits Last week City Limits disclosed a three-part inquiry into New York City s Project-Based Rental Assistance Campaign which helps low-income residents afford housing We exposed tenants struggling to reach their property managers get repairs done and force regime agencies to take enforcement seriously Around tenants benefit from the undertaking in New York City in buildings across all five boroughs Several face the same challenges But in a complicated system of property managers agencies and subcontractors it can be hard for tenants to deal with function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' Molly Rockett a supervising attorney at Legal Services NYC who runs their legal working group on Project-Based Section Rental Assistance sat down with City Limits to discuss the campaign and how tenants can get help This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity What is the Project-Based Rental Assistance PBRA effort PBRA housing is a type of federally subsidized privately owned housing where the executive pays private owners to subsidize the rent of low-income tenants Tenants in PBRA housing typically pay about one-third of their income toward rent and the federal establishment pays the rest directly to the landlord It s similar to NYCHA housing but instead of being owned by a inhabitants agency PBRA buildings themselves are owned and managed by private corporations What are particular of the problems tenants have in the PBRA scheme One of the biggest challenges is getting the landlords to authentically follow the rules Because PBRA landlords receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds they re required to follow strict regulations meant to protect tenants like maintaining safe habitable apartments and accurately calculating each tenant s rent share based on income In practice countless landlords fall short They often underfund their management offices leaving one staff member to handle paperwork for hundreds of tenants That leads to delays confusion lost documents and rent amounts that fluctuate unpredictably A multitude of tenants tell us they don t even know what their rent truly is or when it last changed Tenants also account feeling powerless and humiliated when property managers routinely lose their sensitive documents in the recertification process requiring them to re-submit the same information over and over And when landlords make mistakes there s rarely any accountability There are no real consequences when management errors cost tenants money or their dignity For a large number of the hardest part of living in PBRA housing is merely getting their landlord to follow the law How do I tell if I m in a PBRA apartment Start by asking yourself does the amount I pay in rent depend on my income If you have to submit information each year about your income assets and benefits and your rent changes based on that you may be in a PBRA apartment Next consider who you submit that information to If it goes to a private management company like C C Management or Manhattan North Management and that company not a city agency tells you what your rent will be you likely live in a PBRA building If you instead send everything to NYCHA the Department of Housing Preservation and Maturation HPD or another agency then you allegedly have a different kind of subsidy PBRA apartments are also known as Project-Based Section units You can invariably ask your property manager directly what undertaking your apartment is under or contact Legal Services NYC and we can help you confirm You can reach out to the LSNYC hotline at - - Lexington Gardens a PBRA building on th Street in Manhattan Adi Talwar City Limits How is the PBRA venture different from NYCHA and Section vouchers The difference is that for NYCHA tenants and voucher tenants there is selected kind of administration agency involved in making sure the subsidy certainly works So when NYCHA does something wrong for example when they miscalculate a tenants rent share the tenant can file a rent grievance against NYCHA or file a lawsuit against NYCHA But in PBRA housing everything is done by a private corporation there is no regime agency involved in doing the day-to-day tasks of running the buildings or calculating rent Project-Based Section Rental Assistance is a whole maturation that accepts the subsidy If the tenant leaves the building they can t take the subsidy with them And then in terms of transfer rights the tenant does have the right to request transfers but only within the maturation owned by that specific owner which could be just one building What should I do if I m having a difficulty with my apartment The best thing you can do is start organizing with your neighbors and create a tenant association There are tenant organizers at Population Voices Heard and other places that will help you create a tenant association and from there you can use your collective power and the power of numbers to force your landlord to act and make changes Lawyers like us at Legal Services can be a tool used by tenant associations as well Tenant associations can hire us to write demand letters file complaints with the federal administration and even sue your landlord for not following the law You can try working with your property manager or calling CGI the supervisory agency for PBRA in New York but they each have advantages and pitfalls If you get a kind property manager it could be helpful A property manager could also ignore you and misunderstand you and not fix a matter or make a issue worse Same for CGI Two of the biggest things tenants can do to kind of protect their rights in the process is keep a careful record of every time that you contact your property manager and only do it in writing and when you submit documents to your property manager get a receipt that you can prove you handed it in Property managers will say they never heard from you say they never received documents from you and it will be your word against theirs Your property manager and CGI s contact info must be listed in your building usually in the lobby or the management office If it is not try reaching out to LSNYC What are my rights if I am served an eviction notice I tell this to every tenant I meet in New York City only an order from a judge can force a tenant to leave their apartment So if you get an eviction notice don t just leave the apartment make sure that you head down to the courthouse by the deadline listed on the notice to file your answer An answer is just a list of defenses you might have in the event it is your side of the story You have the right to explain to the judge your perspective on what is going on whether your rent was miscalculated your recertification wasn t processed there are outstanding conditions to be repaired in your apartment or any other techniques your rights were violated Particular of these issues could be defenses to the eviction brought against you Make sure that you attend all court dates so you have a chance to raise all of your rights and defense in an eviction occurrence To reach the reporter behind this story contact Patrick citylimits org To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint approach here The post How To Get Help If You Live in an Apartment With Project-Based Rental Assistance appeared first on City Limits