Senate Bill S124

                                BILL NUMBER:S124

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the public housing law, in relation to directing the New York
City Housing Authority establish alternative requirements for the
qualification of domestic violence victims for N-1 priority access to
housing accommodations

PURPOSE:
Directs the New York City Housing Authority to establish alternative
requirements for domestic violence victim applications for N-1
priority housing.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 sets forth the bill's short title: The Survivor's Accessing
Fair and Equitable ("SAFE") Housing Act.

Section 2 creates anew, alternative application procedure for the New
York City Housing Authority's (NYCHA) N-1 Priority Housing Program
for victims of domestic violence. The form is based on the No
Violence Again (NoVA) screening form used for temporary emergency
DV housing, supplemented by sworn attestations from the applicant and
qualified service provider.

Section 3 establishes the effective date.
              

JUSTIFICATION:
The single best way to give meaningful, long-term help to the
survivors of domestic violence and their families is to provide them
with secure, permanent housing away from their abusers.
Studies demonstrate that obtaining shelter services leads to 60-70%
reduction in incidence and severity of re-assault. In fact, shelter
services led to a more significant reduction in severe reassault than
seeking court or law enforcement protection, or moving to a new
location. It has also been clearly demonstrated that victims often
return to their barterers when a viable option for permanent housing
cannot be found, yet private landlords regularly turn away
individuals who have orders of protection or other indications of
domestic violence.

The New York City Housing Authority's N-1 Priority Housing program is
intended to provide permanent housing for those individuals in the
most serious and imminent danger of repeated abuse. Unfortunately,
the existing documentation requirements for entry into the program
shut out many individuals who are most in need and serve to create a
perverse incentive where victims must put themselves back into harm's
way in order to qualify.

Currently, N-1 applicants must provide two pieces of official
documentation (such as a police report or order of protection)
arising out of two separate incidents of abuse. The desire to use
limited resources on those in the greatest danger is understandable;
however, on average, domestic violence is not reported for the first
time until the seventh incident of physical abuse and there is
perhaps no more dangerous time to return to one's abuser than


directly after making a police report or taking out an order of
protection. Consequently, the current requirements do not serve their
intended purpose and may force survivors of repeated abuse to put
themselves in grave, additional, and unnecessary danger in order to
obtain housing.

Additionally, many victims of domestic violence, primarily from
minority and immigrant communities, are unwilling or unable to go
through the official channels currently required.
There are any number of reasons those with the most desperate need may
not be able to qualify.
Applicants may be undocumented and fear adverse immigration
consequences from any police contact; they may not have reported the
most serious incidents for fear of retribution and find themselves
with insufficient official documentation; they may have fled their
abusers before filing a second report; they may have refused to
cooperate with police under duress, intimidation or for fear of
escalating the danger to themselves or their children. Whatever the
individual reasons may be, far too many survivors cannot meet the
current requirements for reasons that have nothing to do with the
severity of the abuse they have suffered or the imminence or
seriousness of the danger they face.

This legislation, the Survivors Accessing Fair and Equitable ("SAFE)
Housing Act, creates a new way for victims to apply for N-1 housing
without eliminating the current pathway for those who qualify. This
new application is a modified version of the No Violence Again (NoVA)
emergency housing form for temporary shelters, supplemented by sworn
attestations from the applicant and a qualified domestic violence
service provider saying that the applicant meets NYCHA's past abuse
and future danger requirements. This legislation will let the experts
dictate when emergency housing is necessary and help ensure that
endangered victims do not fall through the cracks on technicalities.

Domestic violence is a crime of extraordinary magnitude which affects
all New Yorkers across geographic, social and demographic lines. As a
society, we owe it to those survivors who overcome overwhelming odds
and break free from the cycle of violence to provide whatever help
and protection is in our power without erecting bureaucratic road
blocks in their paths. This commonsense legislation will make that
process more logical and inclusive while maintaining the original
intent of the N-1 program.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2011-12: S.7851

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.