Apartment Transfer Due To Disability (Housing Connect) (New York, York: section 8, affordable apartments)

[MollyNewYork]

Hi,

I live in a housing connect studio apartment at Greenpoint Landing in Brooklyn. I’ve lived here since 2016. I am disabled living on SSD and SSI and in 2017 my doctor determined that I need a live-in aide to help me. I wrote my apartment management company asking for an apartment transfer to a 2 bedroom unit and submitted my doctor’s note back in 2017. Although there were available 2 bedroom apartments at the time of my request, they told me I needed to wait because they do not do transfers unless it’s within 3 months of my lease renewal. I checked back several months later when it came time that I would be eligible for a transfer and at that point they told me that there were no longer 2 bedroom apartments available and that I was #6 on the waitlist for a 2 bedroom. I called them last month and they said I’m still #6 on the waitlist but that doesn’t make sense because I have seen lots of people move in and out over the years.

Since 2016 my disability has worsened. I now am at a point where I have very few options. I do not want to go into assisted living and I can’t come close to affording a market place apartment. I would not want to burden anyone/ I don’t think anyone would want me to be their roommate, considering how my condition would impact their lives. I do not have any family. I don’t know what to do.

I know that they are building more apartments at Greenpoint Landing and I read that as long as a building is within a project (I guess that’s determined by how they filed their paperwork) that the tenant should be able to transfer between buildings. However, the lotteries are obviously held separately and I have no idea how this really works or when these apartments will be available or what their AMI’s will be. But I do know those lotteries will end up being sooner than I will land a transfer in my building because construction is moving quickly and the chances of me getting a 2 bedroom apartment transfer in my building seems like something I can expect many, many years down the line, if ever.

I do not have a section 8 voucher and I am not sure if I’m eligible for anything through Mitchell-Lama but I think their waitlists are really long.

I was waitlisted with a really low log number for another housing lottery building in 2016 as well with the same management company and I was hoping that maybe I could possibly get a 2 bedroom apartment for me and an aide there but every time I email and call the management about my waitlist status on that building they don’t answer my question and they tell me to send an email, but then they ignore my emails. I just don’t know what to do.

If anyone has any suggestions it would mean the world to me.

[randomperson2]

It sounds like your best option is to get someone to lean on your behalf on the management company to do the transfer, assuming you are able to afford a 2-bed's rent in that project. I would try contacting my city councilperson. They usually have someone who does ”constituent services” who may be able to help you. No guarantees but it's worth a try.

Keep applying to the lotteries in the meantime. It sounds like you are mobility-impaired, which means you qualify for whatever units are set aside for that preference, which means you have a (slight) advantage in applying.

Best of luck to you.

[MollyNewYork]

Originally Posted by randomperson2

It sounds like your best option is to get someone to lean on your behalf on the management company to do the transfer, assuming you are able to afford a 2-bed's rent in that project. I would try contacting my city councilperson. They usually have someone who does ”constituent services” who may be able to help you. No guarantees but it's worth a try.

Keep applying to the lotteries in the meantime. It sounds like you are mobility-impaired, which means you qualify for whatever units are set aside for that preference, which means you have a (slight) advantage in applying.

Best of luck to you.

Hi Randomperson2. Thank you so much for you advice! I reached out to my council person Mr. Levin via email on 11/17/20 and received an automated email to contact Johnathan Boucher (their chief of staff). I then sent an email to Johnathan (also on 11/17/20). I still haven’t heard back from anyone, though. It honestly feels like nobody at any of these government agencies cares.

[BMVP10]

You could try emailing 311 and filing a inquiry/complaint or contact HPD directly and ask them to advise you on next steps.

[macnyc2003]

It might also be a good idea to check with someone with expert knowledge about the Americans With Disabilities Act and see if housing accommodation is covered by that. I imagine there are government agencies and nonprofits who can help you.

And I'm surprised the City Council person's staff member hasn't gotten back to you. I would call every couple of days until you get a response.

It seems to me that for you to transfer to a larger apartment, you would have to go through the whole process again, including income requirements.

Can you afford a two-bedroom? Even a one-bedroom would be a help, right, since you're in a studio now?

[Mimilove]

Originally Posted by macnyc2003

It might also be a good idea to check with someone with expert knowledge about the Americans With Disabilities Act and see if housing accommodation is covered by that. I imagine there are government agencies and nonprofits who can help you.

And I'm surprised the City Council person's staff member hasn't gotten back to you. I would call every couple of days until you get a response.

It seems to me that for you to transfer to a larger apartment, you would have to go through the whole process again, including income requirements.

Can you afford a two-bedroom? Even a one-bedroom would be a help, right, since you're in a studio now?

Wouldn't she also have to wait for a lottery apartment to become available?
Not sure if the building she's in is all lottery apartments but it sounds like that's not the case since she said that she knows apartments were available but she was not moved up on the waitlist.

We know that a lot of people tend not to move out of lottery apartments which in her case will not help her and I've never heard about people being able to do move to another building in the same project unless maybe it was part of the same lottery.

I'll be surprised if HDC or HPD don't have the answers to all her questions.

And since there are many laws that protect people with disability I think also speaking with an attorney that specializes in this subject as they should know what laws your landlord must follow will help a great deal.

Maybe you can start here and see what they say https://www.nycbar.org/for-the-publi...legal-services

[MollyNewYork]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to share your insights! I really appreciate all of you.

To answer the questions asked above, I currently live in a studio, but my finances do also deem me eligible for a one bedroom or two bedroom within the lower band AMI (link to housing connect advert below)

My building is 100% affordable units. There are about 100 units in total. It's at Greenpoint Landing, where they built smaller buildings to subsidize the large market-rate towers behind the affordable buildings. Therein lies the concern. Their policies surrounding transfers doesn't seem to be appropriate, seeing as I've lived here for 4 years and haven't moved up the waitlist despite seeing people move out of the building.).

In total there will be 10 affordable housing buildings as a part of this Greenpoint Landing mega development. This adds up to over 1,000 affordable apartments (I actually think it's around 1,400, if I recall correctly) as part of this huge development project. So far they've only built 3 of 10 of the affordable buildings. Right now there is an affordable building that has been constructed and will likely be open within the next year or two. All of these buildings are run by the same management company.

My hope is that maybe they can transfer me between buildings because they will have more units available within this project as a whole. I have some info below about this, but I'm not sure if it applies to my particular situation. For reference, my building is a part of the Low–Income Affordable Marketplace Program (LAMP) of the New York City Housing Development Corporation and the Inclusionary Housing Program of the*New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

According to the HPD-LIHTC Compliance Manual (link below), it states:

11-5. The Transfer Rule When a resident at a tax credit property transfers, the two units involved in the transfer exchange their status as either a market or tax credit unit.
A tax credit resident: A. May transfer to another unit in the same building without re-qualifying for the tax credit program;
B. May transfer to another building at the same property if their income is not more than 140% (170% in a deep rent skew property) of their income limit; (pg 124)
C. Takes their tax credit status, lease and income certification (including its effective date) to their new unit.

Note: You need to know how the “property” is defined. An owner receives a Form 8609 for each building from HPD. Before submitting a Form 8609 to the IRS, the owner notes on Line 8b if the building represented by the form is part of a property that includes other buildings.

a. If a building is not part of a multi-building property, you may not transfer a resident to any other building. If a resident wants to move into another building, you must qualify them again for the tax credit program by completing a new initial certification of eligibility.

b. If a building is part of a multi-building property, so long as their income is not more than 140% of their current income limit, a resident may transfer to any other building listed as part of the same property on its 8609 form. The manager should be sure to verify the impact on the applicable fraction for both buildings before approving the transfer. An owner is responsible for providing management with the 8609 forms for the buildings at their property. HPD will not be responsible for telling managers which buildings comprise a property.

D. During the initial credit period, existing tenants may not be relocated for purposes of qualifying more than one LIHTC unit to count toward the minimum set-aside or applicable fraction. Under no circumstances may one household be used to initially qualify more than one tax credit unit in the project.

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I've reached out to many different housing organizations, council members, HPD, and even pro-bono disability attorneys and have received no help on this issue. It's been really tough because no one in positions of power seem to care.

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Links:

HPD-LIHTC Compliance Manual : https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/hpd/down...nce-Manual.pdf

Housing Connect Advert: https://a806-housingconnect.nyc.gov/...entpdf/211.pdf

[randomperson2]

The tax-credit rules for her building's program clearly anticipates that some residents will transfer. Also the marketing handbook has this to say about remarketing post-lottery (with waiting list exhausted):

”When a disability set-aside unit becomes available, the unit must first be
offered to any current occupant(s) of the development with a mobility,
vision, or hearing disability that initially applied for a set-aside, but opted
for a non-set-aside unit because an appropriately sized set-aside unit was
not available. If no such occupants exist or wish to apply for the vacant
unit, the unit must be offered to any current occupant of a non-set-aside
unit who has a disability requiring the accessibility features of the vacant
unit.”

So clearly disability-related transfers are envisaged, and at the least she should be first in line for any disability set-aside units in her current building. (I expect those turn over a LOT less frequently than ordinary lottery apartments, though, at least in usual times.)

OP, this sounds extremely frustrating for you. It honestly sounds like your building is just stringing you along. I agree with macnyc that you should continue to follow up with your councilperson.

Perhaps the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities might be able to help? https://www1.nyc.gov/site/mopd/about/contact.page