Nearly 200 formerly homeless New Yorkers were hit with eviction notices over the past two years after the city-funded nonprofit tasked with leasing them apartments failed to pay their rent on time, court records show.
Tenants and their advocates say the yearslong saga exposes systemic problems in New York City’s vast network of scattered-site supportive housing — a model where nonprofits rent apartments from private landlords, sublease them to formerly homeless New Yorkers with special needs, like mental illness or HIV, and make home visits to check in and offer services..
The scattered-site model serves as a key tool in the city’s effort to reduce homelessness, with roughly 16,000 units leased by nonprofits across the five boroughs.
But a Gothamist review of court filings against the Brooklyn-based organization St. Nick’s Alliance shows that tenants can still face the threat of eviction when private landlords have little patience for nonprofits late to pay the rent, and city agencies are left unaware of the mounting cases against clients whom they pay to house.
None of the St. Nick’s Alliance tenants have been removed from their homes, and the organization said it has caught up on rent payments for nearly all of the apartments. But the episode is leading to finger-pointing among city officials, the nonprofit group, legal services providers and landlords over who is accountable for the steady stream of eviction cases that force tenants to navigate a complex process and deal with the stress of losing their homes.
“I’m just scared to death I’m going to be in the streets. And I don’t want to be in the streets,” said Bridget Smith, a tenant in Flatbush. “I don’t want to lose my apartment because the program’s messing up and the city’s not paying attention.”
Last December, Smith received one of the 187 eviction notices filed against St. Nick’s Alliance scattered-site program over the past two years. She contacted a lawyer to defend her and to help…
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