Westchester County Executive George Latimer has signed a bill into law creating the Office of Housing Counsel located within the Department of Social Services, which will be tasked with offering legal counsel to low-income individuals facing eviction from their homes.
According to the Westchester County Right to Counsel Coalition, during pre-pandemic years when more than 10,000 eviction proceedings were filed in Westchester County courts, 93% of landlords were represented by counsel while only 7% of tenants had attorneys.
County residents eligible for the new office”™s services will need to have a household income is at or below 300% of the federal poverty guidelines or 60% of the County Average Medium Income. In addition to evictions, the new office will provide input on challenges to rent increases based upon a landlord”™s failure to provide proper notice, maintaining or restoring a covered individual”™s occupancy of a residential rental premises, possession of a residential premises for the non-payment of rent or a holdover, and the restoration or maintenance of essential services.
“Housing is a necessity, plain and simple,” said Latimer. “This legislation will help Westchester residents who are facing hardships remain in their homes, easing the burden on our social services and lowering the number of our neighbors facing a crisis in their living situations. I commend the Board of Legislators for their work on this trailblazing legislation here in Westchester.”
The creation of this office and its services are a very positive action at a time when housing costs are so high and availability is low to non-existent. It is interesting that there are all sorts of financial disruptions that can be handled with insurance, re-insurance, rainy day funds, forbearance, elongated payments or just emergency loans. Eviction is a horrible measure uprooting families, children, pets from their communities and schools. No one should lose their long term residence for a short term financial disruption. And this thought does not excuse willful or deliberate non-payments but those caught in catastrophic disruptions in their incomes.
The author forgot to mention Westchester will be screwing the landlord. I assume landlords, not being idiots, will just require better financials from prospective tenants and turn down riskier applicants. Westchester should help pay the rents instead of paying for the staff of the new office if they really want to help.
There can and should be solutions that protect the Landlord and the tenants. There are so many other financial investments and relationships where risk and exposure to income disruption are insured and protected. So why not residential rents? How complicated can this be? And if one enters the residential rental market then you know up front that 100% revenue certainty is not to be expected. If that is what is desired then there are other investment instruments that can provide that certainty. There are families and human lives at stake here. This is not to defend willful fraud. And we also know that rents are far higher than ownership costs.