NYCHA Violated Its Own Application-Processing Procedures

Tenant sued NYCHA, claiming that its decision to deny her a Section 8 rent subsidy was arbitrary and unreasonable. Tenant asked the court to order NYCHA to pay the rent subsidy on her behalf. NYCHA argued that tenant didn’t submit requested documentation needed to complete her application. The court ruled for tenant in part. When tenant didn’t submit required documents, including a copy of a tax return transcript, NYCHA considered tenant’s application “dead” and purged it from the system. Instead, NYCHA should have given tenant prompt notice that her application was denied with an explanation, which it failed to do. And NYCHA’s internal procedures required staff to complete an income review even if applicants didn’t send in the tax returns. NYCHA simply stopped processing tenant’s application, in violation of its own procedures. So NYCHA’s actions were arbitrary and unreasonable. The agency’s decision was revoked, and tenant’s application was sent back for further processing.

Brown v. Hernandez: NYLJ, 11/12/08, p. 26, col. 3 (Sup. Ct. NY; Lobis, J)