NYCHA Can Terminate Tenancy of Tenant Who Threatened Landlord's Employees

LVT Number: #33291

NYCHA tenant filed an Article 78 court appeal of NYCHA's decision, made after a hearing, that tenant was ineligible to continue her occupancy of an apartment in a public housing development based on nondesirability. NYCHA's decision also terminated the tenancy. The court ruled against tenant, finding that NYCHA's ruling was supported by substantial evidence. The reason NYCHA charged tenant with nondesirability was due to aggressive and violent behavior by tenant against NYCHA employees.

NYCHA tenant filed an Article 78 court appeal of NYCHA's decision, made after a hearing, that tenant was ineligible to continue her occupancy of an apartment in a public housing development based on nondesirability. NYCHA's decision also terminated the tenancy. The court ruled against tenant, finding that NYCHA's ruling was supported by substantial evidence. The reason NYCHA charged tenant with nondesirability was due to aggressive and violent behavior by tenant against NYCHA employees. Tenant claimed at the hearing that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and asked NYCHA to provide her a reasonable accommodation for her disability. NYCHA gave sufficient consideration at its hearing to tenant's request for a reasonable accommodation and found that tenant's disability was insufficient to warrant a mitigated sanction and that "no reasonable accommodation ... would offer a solution." And, in light of all the circumstances involved, the penalty of termination of the tenancy was not so disproportionate to the offenses as to be shocking to one's sense of fairness.

Matter of Hart v. NYCHA: App. No. 2020-02497, Index No. 2558/19, 2024 NY Slip Op 03482 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; 6/26/24; Duffy, JP, Miller, Wan, Landicino, JJ)