HousingArticles
- Costs of Homelessness – Conrad Johnson, Marilyn Flood, 2005
- This report was prepared for the New York County Lawyers Association. See in particular pages 20-31 which contain an analysis of the costs of homelessness as a partial justification for the recognition of a right to counsel in the New York City Housing Court.
- Costs of Homelessness – Easier to Solve
- Interesting account of the costs, both financial and human, of shortsighted policies regarding the homeless. Article by Malcolm Gladwell for the New Yorker, February, 2006.
- Dealing with Criminal Records
- Given the consequences of criminal charges, it can be important to manage their impact. In the two sources attached here, you can learn how to review and correct rap sheets for accuracy, seal court records where possible and obtain certificates that demonstrate rehabilitation, such as a Certificate of Relief from Disability (CRD) or a Certificate of Good Conduct. What You Can Do About Criminal Convictions When Looking for Work, is a user-friendly guide created by the Legal Action Center. The Bronx Defenders’ The Consequences of Criminal Proceedings in New York State, provides an outline-style authoritative primer with cites to applicable authority. See in particular, pages 2-5. Certificates of Rehabilitation. Consequences of Criminal Proceedings.
- Defending Individual Denied Public Housing Because of a Criminal Record
- Prepared by Sally Friedman of the Legal Action Center, 6/05. Of particular interest are the “Guidelines for Hearing Officers” that begin on page 23.
- How to Appeal a Denial of a Your Public Housing or Section 8 Application
- Easy to understand manual prepared by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
- New Frontiers in Fair Lending: Confronting Lending Discrimination Against Ex-Offenders
- Author: Taja-Nia Y. Henderson, 80 N.Y.U.L.Rev. 1237 (October 2005). The author posits that “the use of criminal history in any determination of creditworthiness should be prohibited or at least curtailed. Given the practice’s serious implications for both the ability of individual ex-offenders to reenter society effectively, as well as for the ability of receiving communities to effectuate crime prevention and community development initiatives, … the federal government ought to take the lead in developing statutory and administrative solutions that effectively fill the ‘advocacy gap’ in credit and financial services where recourse to the courts is not available.”
- NO SECOND CHANCE – People with Criminal Records Denied Access to Public Housing – Corinne Carey, Human Rights Watch, 2004
- Excellent report which summarizes the collateral consequences of criminal charges in the public housing context and assesses public housing exclusionary policies against human rights standards.
- NYSBA Report – Housing Section – Private Housing issues
- The NYSBA Report on collateral consequences cited on the home page of this website contains a detailed report on consequences in housing which is attached here. For those interested in priviate housing issues, see pages 220-228.
- Safe at Home: A Reference Guide for Public Housing Officials on the Federal Housing Laws Regarding Admission and Eviction Standards for People with Criminal Records – The Legal Action Center, 2004
- The Legal Action Center developed this excellent, plain-language guidebook to explain what the federal housing laws require, highlight those areas where public housing agencies (PHAs) have discretion to craft their own admission and eviction policies related to people with criminal records, and offer recommendations on effective ways to use that dis cretion to simultaneously meet important public safety goals and the housing needs of people with criminal records. What follows is a user-friendly manual to help guide PHAs through this decision-making process.
- Saving One’s Home: Collateral Consequences for Innocent Family Members – Barbara Mulé and Michael Yavinsky, 2005
- Routinely, eviction proceedings are commenced against a tenant of record based uponthe criminal (usually drug) activity of another household member or guest. The tenantof record often is a parent or grandparent who lacks knowledge of or the ability tocontrol the criminal activity. Yet, despite their innocence, statutory provisions maysubject the entire household to eviction proceedings and potential homelessness.
- The Consequences of Criminal Proceedings in New York State – The Bronx Defenders Civil Action Project, 2005
- Very helpful, comprehensive outline of the collateral consequences of criminal proceedings in New York State across a variety of subject areas, including of course, housing in pages 8-19.
- The Effect of Criminal Convictions on Public Housing and Section 8 Residents and Applicants
- These training materials were created in June, 2006 by Judith Goldiner of The Legal Aid Society. They provide useful information about what to do to minimize the undue effects of criminal charges on public housing and Section 8 residents and applicants.