Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

270 Amy E. Schwartz and Sharon Stapel
In New York City, domestic violence shelter residents must wait 42 days
after arriving in a shelter to apply for permanent housing. At 42 days, shelter
residents may apply for housing through development-based housing or
Section 8, but these applications can take several weeks to several months to be
approved. This results in residents being discharged from the shelter prior to
obtaining permanent housing. HRA/DSS is considering changing this policy so
that shelter residents can begin applying for permanent housing within 21 days of
shelter residence. As of June 2006, no official policy change has been issued. 100
When clients are discharged from a residential domestic violence program
and re-housed in unfurnished housing, the local district must provide essential
furnishings, equipment, and supplies necessary to establish a home. 101 Some
domestic violence programs also operate transitional housing programs that
allow longer stays in more permanent housing. Currently, only a handful of
these programs exist throughout the state. To find out about services in your
community, you can contact your local domestic violence service provider.
Subsidized Housing: A Brief Primer
The two primary subsidized housing programs available to survivors of
domestic violence are the Section 8 program (formally known as the “Housing
Choice Voucher Program”) and the “Public Housing” program. While the US
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants funds for these
programs, local public housing agencies (PHAs) administer them. PHAs are
given some discretion to tailor program policies and procedures to community
needs. As a result, program policies and procedures vary regionally throughout
the state and may even vary substantially within a single county. In New York
State, local PHAs may be a municipal “Housing Authority” created under the
state’s public housing law. In New York City, the local PHA is New York City
Housing Authority (NYCHA). In the case of the Section 8/Housing Choice
Voucher Program, the PHA may be either a housing authority, the municipality
itself, or simply a not-for-profit corporation. The size of the geographic areas
served by the PHAs also vary and, in some communities, PHA jurisdictions
even overlap. It is important to be familiar with all of the PHAs operating in the
region to ensure that the client is considered for all available housing programs.
Lists of the programs operating in each county are available from the HUD
website at: http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/pha/contacts/index.cfm.
Eligibility and admission policies and administrative procedures will vary
by program. To find the admissions policies and procedures for a local PHA,
practitioners should request a PHA’s “Admissions and Continued Occupancy