Aging in place is the principle that people should be able to live in their homes and communities for as long as they can do so safely, regardless of age, income, or ability.
This report recommends improvements to New York City's stringent Tenant Selection Criteria for affordable housing. The current criteria set forth by the City's Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) bars low-income New Yorkers, families, those experiencing homelessness, and the elderly from access to safe and stable housing. Public Advocate James' report suggests that the current criteria puts too great an emphasis on past financial challenges rather than a household's ability to pay rent, and that the housing lottery process needs greater transparency and accessibility.
New York State loses approximately 60,500 jobs a year when small businesses with fewer than 100 employees close their doors for good. While many businesses close because of rising rents or failed business plans, in New York State we estimate that 3,700 businesses close each year simply because of the owner's retirement. As a result 13,260 New Yorkers lose their jobs annually.
Public Advocate James called for a thorough review of the City's Tenant Interim Lease Apartment Purchase Program (TIL). After hearing complaints from a number of constituents and holding a town hall meeting, Public Advocate James' office investigated the program and found that TIL is not fulfilling its purpose of providing New Yorkers with self-sufficient low-income cooperatives.
This Brief identifies the severity and scope of serious transgender housing discrimination and recommending a number of improvements to protect the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) community. The report describes the overt, outspoken, and exploitative behavior that the TGNC community experiences and highlights the inadequacy of the tools used to report incidents to the City's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR).