Landlord Can Evict Section 8 Tenant

Landlord NYCHA terminated tenancy based on Section 8 tenant's failure to report employment income. Tenant filed an Article 78 court appeal of NYCHA's decision, claiming that the penalty was too harsh and would leave her and her children homeless. The court ruled against tenant, who appealed and won. The appeals court ruled that termination of the tenancy was disproportionate to the offense and shocked the conscience. NYCHA then appealed to New York's highest court and won. The lower appeals court incorrectly considered tenant's public housing accommodation to be a "tenancy of last resort." Here, tenant had an income and had argued at her hearing before NYCHA only that she couldn't afford a larger apartment. She didn't claim that she would become homeless if evicted until she appealed NYCHA's decision. NYCHA properly terminated the tenancy since tenant's rent was income-based and she knowingly and intentionally concealed her income from NYCHA for seven years. This defrauded NYCHA of $27,000. A vital public interest underlies the need to enforce income rules relating to public housing since there are other families in need waiting for public housing. 

Perez v. Rhea: 2013 NY Slip Op 00953, 2013 WL 530564 (Ct. App.; 2/14/13; Pigott, J)