Enacts the "survivor's accessing fair and equitable (SAFE) housing act"; directs the New York City Housing Authority to establish alternative requirements for domestic violence victim applications for N-1 priority in housing.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2199
SPONSOR: Simotas TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public housing law, in relation to
directing the New York City Housing Authority establish alternative
requirements for the qualification of domestic violence victims for N-1
priority access to housing accommodations
PURPOSE:
Directs the New York City Housing Authority to establish alternative
requirements for domestic violence victim applications for N-1 priority
housing.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 sets forth the bill's short title: The Survivor's Accessing
Fair and Equitable ("SAFE") Housing Act.
Section 2 creates anew, alternative application procedure for the New
York City Housing Authority's (NYCHA) N-1 Priority Housing Program for
victims of domestic violence. The form is based on the No Violence Again
(NoVA) screening form used for temporary emergency DV housing, supple-
mented by sworn attestations from the applicant and qualified service
provider.
Section 3 establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The single best way to give meaningful, long-term help to the survivors
of domestic violence and their families is to provide them with secure,
permanent housing away from their abusers. Studies demonstrate that
obtaining shelter services leads to 60-70% reduction in incidence and
severity of re-assault. In fact, shelter services led to a more signif-
icant reduction in severe reassault than seeking court or law enforce-
ment protection, or moving to a new location. It has also been clearly
demonstrated that victims often return to their barterers when a viable
option for permanent housing cannot be found, yet private landlords
regularly turn away individuals who have orders of protection or other
indications of domestic violence.
The New York City Housing Authority's N-1 Priority Housing program is
intended to provide permanent housing for those individuals in the most
serious and imminent danger of repeated abuse. Unfortunately, the exist-
ing documentation requirements for entry into the program shut out many
individuals who are most in need and serve to create a perverse incen-
tive where victims must put themselves back into harm's way in order to
qualify.
Currently, N-1 applicants must provide two pieces of official documenta-
tion (such as a police report or order of protection) arising out of two
separate incidents of abuse. The desire to use limited resources on
those in the greatest danger is understandable; however, on average,
domestic violence is not reported for the first time until the seventh
incident of physical abuse and there is perhaps no more dangerous time
to return to one's abuser than directly after making a police report or
taking out an order of protection. Consequently, the current require-
ments do not serve their intended purpose and may force survivors of
repeated abuse to put themselves in grave, additional, and unnecessary
danger in order to obtain housing.
Additionally, many victims of domestic violence, primarily from minority
and immigrant communities, are unwilling or unable to go through the
official channels currently required. There are any number of reasons
those with the most desperate need may not be able to qualify. Appli-
cants may be undocumented and fear adverse immigration consequences from
any police contact; they may not have reported the most serious inci-
dents for fear of retribution and find themselves with insufficient
official documentation; they may have fled their abusers before filing a
second report; they may have refused to cooperate with police under
duress, intimidation or for fear of escalating the danger to themselves
or their children. Whatever the individual reasons may be, far too many
survivors cannot meet the current requirements for reasons that have
nothing to do with the severity of the abuse they have suffered or the
imminence or seriousness of the danger they face.
This legislation, the Survivors Accessing Fair and Equitable ("SAFE)
Housing Act, creates a new way for victims to apply for N-1 housing
without eliminating the current pathway for those who qualify. This new
application is a modified version of the No Violence Again (NoVA) emer-
gency housing form for temporary shelters, supplemented by sworn attes-
tations from the applicant and a qualified domestic violence service
provider saying that the applicant meets NYCHA's past abuse and future
danger requirements. This legislation will let the experts dictate when
emergency housing is necessary and help ensure that endangered victims
do not fall through the cracks on technicalities.
Domestic violence is a crime of extraordinary magnitude which affects
all New Yorkers across geographic, social and demographic lines. As a
society, we owe it to those survivors who overcome overwhelming odds and
break free from the cycle of violence to provide whatever help and
protection is in our power without erecting bureaucratic road blocks in
their paths. This commonsense legislation will make that process more
logical and inclusive while maintaining the original intent of the N-1
program.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
