Provides for including uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces in the definition of "family member" in relation to regulations pertaining to rights of family members to succeed in certain cases to the rights of certain tenants.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5448
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 16, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RODRIGUEZ -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Housing
AN ACT to amend the public housing law, in relation to the definition of
"family member"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 4 of section 14 of the public
2 housing law, as added by chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, is amended to
3 read as follows:
4 (c) that for the purposes of such regulations: (i) "family member"
5 shall be defined as a husband, wife, son, daughter, stepson, stepdaught-
6 er, father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, brother, sister, uncle,
7 aunt, nephew, niece, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter,
8 daughter-in-law, son-in-law, mother-in-law or father-in-law of the
9 tenant; or any other person residing with the tenant in the housing
10 accommodation as a primary residence who can prove emotional and finan-
11 cial commitment, and interdependence between such person and the tenant.
12 Although no single factor shall be solely determinative, evidence which
13 is to be considered in determining whether such emotional and financial
14 commitment and interdependence existed, may include, without limitation,
15 such factors as listed below. In no event would evidence of a sexual
16 relationship between such persons be required or considered.
17 (A) longevity of the relationship;
18 (B) sharing of or relying upon each other for payment of household or
19 family expenses, or other common necessities of life;
20 (C) intermingling of finances as evidenced by, among other things,
21 joint ownership of bank accounts, personal and real property, credit
22 cards, loan obligations, sharing a household budget for purposes of
23 receiving government benefits, or such other factors as may be deter-
24 mined by regulation;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05693-01-1
A. 5448 2
1 (D) engaging in family-type activities by jointly attending family
2 functions, holidays and celebrations, social and recreational activ-
3 ities, or such other factors as may be determined by regulation;
4 (E) formalizing of legal obligations, intentions, and responsibilities
5 to each other by such means as executing wills naming each other as
6 executor or beneficiary, conferring upon each other a power of attorney
7 or authority to make health care decisions each for the other, entering
8 into a personal relationship contract, making a domestic partnership
9 declaration, or serving as a representative payee for purposes of public
10 benefits, or such other factors as may be determined by regulation;
11 (F) holding themselves out as family members to other family members,
12 friends, members of the community or religious institutions, or society
13 in general, through their words or actions;
14 (G) regularly performing family functions, such as caring for each
15 other or each other's extended family members, or relying upon each
16 other for daily family services;
17 (H) engaging in any other pattern of behavior, agreement, or other
18 action which evidences the intention of creating a long-term, emotional-
19 ly-committed relationship.
20 (ii) a "senior citizen" is defined as a person who is sixty-two years
21 of age or older;
22 (iii) a "disabled person" is defined as a person who has an impairment
23 which results from anatomical, physiological or psychological condi-
24 tions, other than addiction to alcohol, gambling, or any controlled
25 substance, which are demonstrable by medically acceptable clinical and
26 laboratory diagnostic techniques, and which are expected to be permanent
27 and which substantially limit one or more of such person's major life
28 activities.
29 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
30 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
