Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

84. Id.
85. Id.
Public Assistance and Housing 289
86. The Empire Justice Center, together with the Western New York Law
Center, maintains a database of fair hearing decisions, including those
involving good cause and child support cooperation. New decisions are
added regularly. See the Fair Hearing Bank,
http://onlineresources.wnylc.net/welcome.asp?index=Welcome (last visited
June 19, 2006).
87. See Decision After Fair Hearing Number 0670706K In the Matter of B.S.,
http://onlineresources.wnylc.net/welcome.asp?index=Welcome (last visited
June 19, 2006).
88. Because many domestic violence shelters are congregate living facilities
without separated bathrooms and living spaces, some programs are not
architecturally structured to house individuals of both sexes and genders in
the same facility. Therefore, some will have to turn away males or
residents with older male children for residential services. However, some
programs are able to house these individuals together or provide alternative
housing, such as a safe home or safe dwelling. You will want to contact the
domestic violence program in your community to determine their specific
services. As of 2004, New York City’s Safe Horizon shelter has space
available to male survivors who require residential services when they flee
their abusive same-sex partners. Transgender women may also have access
to DV shelters; some DV shelters in New York City have instituted policies
that not only accept transwomen into shelter but also address staff and
resident training and education about transgender survivors. Since different
shelters have different policies, advocates should contact individual
shelters directly when finding shelter for transgender clients. It should also
be noted that the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) in New York
City has instituted a formal policy regarding gender identity and placement
in homeless shelters. DHS’s policy requires shelter workers to place clients
in gender-appropriate shelters in accordance with the client’s gender
identity (e.g., how the client defines his or her gender), regardless of how
the client’s gender may be interpreted by shelter staff. DHS Procedure 06-
1-31 (Jan. 1, 2006), http://www.srlp.org/documents/DHS_trans_policy.pdf
(last visited June 16, 2006).
89. Note that it is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for a
domestic violence program to refuse to provide services or
accommodations to survivors or their children if they have disabilities. As
places of public accommodation under Title III, residential domestic