Eviction of an old woman
J. is a feisty75 year old who is living on $639 monthly from Social Security and SSI. The rent is $930 a month. She is being evicted into the street tomorrow at 11:30 am, because she owes back rent- much of it from when she was hospitalized with shingles. She is currently blind in one eye and has skin cancer. The $639 a typical payment for woman who worked at various jobs at small businesses and never got into any retirement plan. She came to New York in the fifties from Pa. to pursue a career acting, temped at office jobs, married for a few years, had no children, divorced, and never remarried. When her Mother got old she found a good old folks home for her in Pa. But now that its her turn, there's no one left to help her out. When she moved into the VOA's Brandon Residence for Women at 340 West 85th Street in 1995 the rent was $500 a month for a 7X 10 foot room, with no telephone, and no AC. It was leveld off at 678 under a stipulation, but they claim that it should be $930 a month. There is a communal bath & WC on each floor shared by 30 women, and a communal kitchen on one floor for heating up tea water soup mix etc. The first floor of the building is pleasant with two large lounges- one with a stage, and the other for watching TV. There is a conceirge who gets all the mail and slops it into boxes. The New York Headquarters for the VOA is located on site, with offices on the second and third floors, and Richard Salyer, the President or chief minister ( yes the VOA is a religion- I found this out when I called the Secretary of State for their financials as a charity, and was unable to get them because the VOA is a religious corporation) lives and entertains in the penthouse on the top floor. In the basement is a cafeteria for the female residents where breakfast and dinner is served. The Cafeteria Workers are from one of the VOA's drug rehab programs and there is, or was, a drug rehab program on site for recent releasees. The VOA started a nonpayment case against J. in 1996-7. J.withheld rent because there were warranty of habitability problems in the residence-heavy mold in the bathrooms, electrical wires draped from the overhead fixtures and strung in the hallways, and broken doors. . After motion practice, we signed a stipuation in 1998 to get repairs, and giving J. a 3000 rent abatement. Another feature of the stipulation was that they could not bring a future holdover action against her. She got sick and defaulted on the repayment plan so 30 something Civil Court Judge Tammi Elsnor issued a warant, snapping at us from the bench that Joyce "should have saved money when she was young and made better plans for her future." We stopped the eviction by declaring Bankruptcy under Chapter 13. US Bankruptcy Judge Cornelious Blackshear was more accomodating, we kept the case alive for four years. When the Bankruptcy was finally dismissed for failure to pay the trustee during a bout of pnuemonia, January 2002, the case went back to Civil Court, and after more manurverings Civil COurt Judge Milin issued a judgement of eviction but stayed it 30 days to permit the respondent to "Move with Diginity" How does one move with diginity to the street, or Riverside park? I was getting ready to go on vacation, so we filed for bankruptcy again, this time under Chapter 7, with no repayment plan under a new theory. The VOA came roaring into court screaming that Joyce deserved to be evicted, that she was simply decalring bankruptcy in bad faith to stop an eviction, but US Bankruptcy Judge Gropper stopped them dead, stating that everyone stands equal under the law- if Enron and other large corporations can obtain relief under the shield of bankruptcy so can a 73 year old woman with no money and no place to go. This time I had new theory - under bankruptcy law, - specifically" the anti discrimination rule" no government entity can discriminate against a debtor for insolvency, or owing back rent. Therefore they may retain their possession of their apartments even after all the back rent is discharged under bankruptcy. The Government may not discriminate against them by evicting them because they owed back rent. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld this theory in "In re Stolz" and I guess City housing praying that their tenants don't find out about this. Anyway, in our case my job was to prove that VOA is so entwined with the government that it is, or stands in the place, of a government entity. As you can see from their website, the VOA is the largest provider of Homeless services and services to the aged in the area. 95% of their funding is from Government contracts. The constitution of New York state provides a constitutional right to shelter - which in this town, the VOA overwhelmingly provides. So I reasoned, the VOA stands in the shoes of the Government in providing this service which the State Constitution mandates is a right . Unfortunately, because the Brandon is not a shelter- it is supportive housing, or as the VOA falsely claims "housing for professional women and students," we lost. ( My other case- with the two 80 year olds in a HPD TIL building won) So here we are, at the eleventh hour, once again looking for someplace to put Joyce. The Marshall just called, he's having Adult Protective services come, but he agrees with me that they are useless. I've called all the senior services, but they are full to the gills with homeless seniors. Basically Joyce can go to Peter's Place on 23rd street, and they will try and find a placement for her for the night. (The guys at our church shelter are usually bussed in by the City at 7:30 for the night at our mens' beds, and are bussed out at 5 am the following morning).I've been looking for months, and have found nothing in Manhattan. Most social workers tell me that unless the person is actively homeless, they can't find them a placement. Last resort- we are looking for a large space at Manhattan Ministorage on the West Side Highway. They allow access 24/7 and according to a NYT article last summer there are showers and toilets. I've visited the one downtown in the west village and there are large cubicles separated by cyclone fencing with an electric light. Years ago, I represented some guys at the Stanford, a flop house on the Bowery. They lived in cublicles separted by Chickenwire, with an overhead light. Now that the flops are gone, I guess we'll have to go into storage.
Then there's a possibility of a "facility" somewhere in the outer boroughs, usually between something like the Bruckner expressway, and the Hutchinson parkway, located two trains and three buses away from the old neighborhood and old friends. There's an 8 pm curfew, with a monthly trip by ambulette to the Rite Aide on White Plains Road for diversion. There's tapes of movies twice a week in the lounge, and yarn crafts, and a cafeteria for all your meals. You share a room, and are limited to a minimum of personal possessions cause you don't need them anymore. Your social security check is signed over to the facility, and they immediatly ask the government for more money- another 1500 - cause its impossible to keep you there for 639 monthly. I've visited people in such places and they are all desparate to get free....