You Don't Have to be Homeless: Stand up and Fight Back!

If you receive Work Advantage – a rental assistance subsidy program – you should have received your “termination” letter by now from the Department of Homeless Services.

The letter starts as such:

“The New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) regretfully inform you that New York State has withdrawn all state and federal funding for the Advantage program. Pursuant to 18 N.Y.C.R.R. S 352.3 (a)(3)(ii) the City is no longer authorized to continue the program. As a result, no further Advantage rental assistance supplemental payments will be provided to our landlord on your behalf. This means that your Advantage rental supplemental amount is now $0.00.”

If you have received this letter, I need you to do two things: 1) Don’t panic, and 2) Fight back.

I don’t want you to panic, because you have rights. You have a written agreement with the state in which the state agrees to pay a portion of your rent while you pay the balance.

In the United States, a contract is binding, and if broken, the parties (i.e. “you”) can sue for the restoration of benefits, payment, etc. And, when you know that you have certain rights, you don’t panic.

Yes, it’s a scary situation to think that the state expects you to go from paying, for example $230 for your portion of the rent to paying the full amount of $1,250 overnight, but as long as you are in good standing in keeping up your payments, you shouldn’t get scared.

And by all means, don’t begin packing up your belongings because your landlord screams “eviction.” Don’t allow him/her to intimidate you. Again, you have rights, and they must follow the law.

So, after you have stopped panicking, this is where the fight-back comes into play: The next thing you must do is call for a New York State Fair Hearing with “Aid to Continue.” By doing this, the state is obligated to continue paying their portion of the rent until your case is heard, which gives you more time to come up with a next-step solution for your housing situation.

To request a hearing with the Office of Administrative Hearings New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, you can either call in (800-342-3334), you can write in (P.O. Box 1930, Albany, NY 12201).

Also, you can fax your request (518-473-6735), you can walk in to 14 Boerum Place on the Ground Floor in Brooklyn, NY, or 330 west 34th Street in Manhattan, NY, and request your hearing or complete an online request form. I recommend the last two ways of requesting a fair hearing as they are a lot faster.

Next, you must put some pressure on City Hall, the Governor and your legislators to save the funding. When you call the Mayor, Deputy Mayor Gibbs and Commissioners Doar of HRA and Diamond of DHS by calling 311, you want to indicate that you’re registering a complaint regarding their decision to withdraw support for the Advantage program and that the city needs to reinstate it.

Do the same when calling the Governor’s office (518-408-2922). Call your New York State Assembly member and Senator (in Bed-Stuy, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, Assemblywoman Annette Robinson and Senator Velmanette Montgomery) in your district and flood their offices with your critical housing situation.

This is the time to fight and make your voice heard. You are among 17,000 families affected by this sudden housing crisis. Single moms who came before us fought for their rights and you must do the same.

You need and deserve housing stability for your family. Therefore, you have to take a stand and ensure that no one and nothing takes that away. You can do it!

Feona Sharhran Huff is the Publisher of Solo Mommy Magazine – the monthly digital publication dedicated to empowering single moms with savvier ways to live a simpler life. She writes the blog, “Living the Solo Mommy Life,” (www.livingthesolomommylife.blogspot.com) in which she details her daily dealings as a single mom raising two talented children while living and working in busy New York City. For a complimentary copy of Solo Mommy Magazine, email her at solomommymag@yahoo.com.