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discretionary funding has also been added to HRA’s budget for this year for civil legal services, including citywide civil legal services, legal services for low-income workers, legal assistance to obtain unemployment insurance benefits and federal disability benefits, legal services for survivors of domestic violence, legal services for veterans, anti-eviction and SRO housing legal services, an Unaccompanied Minors Initiative, and a Family Unity Project to keep immigrant families together and avert deportation .
In combination, as New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has done for the New York State Judiciary’s civil legal assistance initiative, these programs prioritize civil legal assistance in core matters involving the “essentials of life”—legal problems in the areas of:
n Housing (including evictions, foreclosures, and homelessness);
n Family matters (including domestic violence, children, and family stability);
n Access to health care and education; and
n Subsistence income (including employment wages, disability and other basic benefits, and consumer debts) .
Homelessness
As part of the de Blasio Administration’s effort to reduce homelessness, there has been a substantial expansion of HRA’s homelessness prevention services .
For the first time, HRA has a Homelessness Prevention Administration, bringing together and coordinating all our existing and new programs . It includes the following:
n Homelessness Diversion Units (“HDUs”) located at all HRA Job Centers and at the Department of Homeless Services’ PATH intake facility are now utilizing new diversion tools that include short-term financial support .
n On-site staff are working at DHS Homebase offices around the City and at the New York City Housing Authority’s administrative hearings office in addition to staff at the Housing Courts .
n There is an Early Intervention Outreach Team (“EIOT”) for outreach to families and individuals in need of legal assistance or emergency rental assistance based on early warning referrals from the Housing Court .
n Because landlords are essential to fighting homelessness, we created the Landlord Ombudsman Services Unit (“LOSU”) to address the needs and concerns of landlords and management companies that provide permanent housing for families and individuals receiving public assistance .
n A Rental Assistance Program was formed to implement the Administration’s new Living in Communities (“LINC”) rental assistance initiatives .
n The Legal Assistance Initiatives Program now manages all the legal assistance programs that have been consolidated at HRA to enhance coordination and effectiveness .
HRA also recently created the Family Independence Administration’s Central Rent Processing Unit to centrally process, issue, and deliver emergency rental assistance payments to landlords to prevent evictions .
As these three examples highlight, we have accomplished a great deal over the past year, and we will continue with our reform initiatives during the coming year . •
Impact: Collected Essays on the Threat of Economic Inequality