NEW YORK—About 15,000 formerly homeless New Yorkers will no longer receive rent subsidies following a New York State Court of Appeals ruling issued Tuesday. The decision ended a more than yearlong legal battle.
The tenants were trying to reverse the city’s termination last year of the Advantage program, a rent subsidy program for formerly homeless New Yorkers. Under the program, tenants could receive rent assistance of up to $1,000 a month for up to two years if they met certain criteria such as working 20 hours a week.
The city decided to cut the program after losing funding from federal and state authorities.
Steven Banks, attorney-in-chief of the Legal Aid Society, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the formerly homeless families and individuals.
He said the city “has an obligation to continue to pay rent subsidies in the Advantage program ... until their Advantage subsidy agreements expire.”
The appeals court did not agree, instead agreeing with lower courts in finding that “the city did not intend to enter into enforceable contracts with plaintiffs or their landlords.”
Michael Cardozo, the chief lawyer for the city of New York, told Reuters, “We believe the court reached the right decision under the law.”
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