AEGiS-NYT: Brooklyn: Rent Decision Challenged

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Brooklyn: Rent Decision Challenged

The New York Times - October 30, 2006
Sewell Chan

Housing Works, an advocacy group for people with AIDS, said yesterday that it would file a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Brooklyn today challenging a decision by the city to sharply increase the rent contribution it requires from about 2,200 poor adults with H.I.V. or AIDS who live in government-subsidized apartments. As of Wednesday, the adults, who have been paying 30 percent of their income in rent, will have to pay as much as 75 percent instead. The new policy will allow the tenants to keep only $330 of their monthly income, which comes from federal assistance, and the rest must go toward rent. Armen H. Merjian, a Housing Works lawyer, said the city's decision violated the federal law that caps the rent in federally financed low-income housing at 30 percent. The city's Human Resources Administration said this month that it was ordered to make the change by the state's Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance; the state office said the change would make the city conform with statewide practice. Both agencies are named as defendants. The lawsuit lists nine New York City residents as plaintiffs but seeks to represent all 2,200 adults in a class action.

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