State Must Pay Rent of Families Facing Eviction

[consigliere]

This story appeared in News In Brief in the February 28, 2003 online edition of the New York Law Journal:
 
State Must Pay Rent of Families Facing Eviction
 
A Manhattan judge Thursday ordered the state to pay the outstanding rent of two welfare families who face imminent eviction, saying the state was still bound by holdings stemming from the Court of Appeals' ruling in Jiggetts v. Grinker, 75 NY2d 411 (1990).
 
In Jiggetts, the Court said the state had an obligation to provide welfare families with an adequate housing subsidy. The case was remanded to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Karla Moskowitz, who in 1997 ordered the Department of Social Services to create a shelter allowance "that bears a reasonable relationship to the cost of housing in New York City."
 
In a related ruling Thursday, Justice Moskowitz said the state had yet to comply with the 1997 order, though it did propose regulations last year. "Thus, the shelter allowances still remain inadequate," the judge said in granting a request by two mothers for injunctive relief. She said the state should pay the mothers' back rent and attorney's fees, as well as future rent less any third-party contributions.
 
The state had contended the allowances were not available to the women because they were no longer eligible for a federally subsidized welfare program with a five-year limit on relief. Susan C. Bahn of the Legal Aid Society, who represented the women, said the ruling could have positive implications for 14,000 families in New York who are eligible for shelter allowances.