NYCHA Reasonably Sought to Accommodate Tenant's Fear of Apartment Entry

February 13, 2017

LVT Number: #27487

Tenant filed an Article 78 appeal of NYCHA’s decision to terminate her Section 8 rent subsidy. The court ruled against tenant. Tenant failed to act reasonably in response to NYCHA’s attempts to accommodate her mental illness, which caused her to suffer panic attacks at the prospect of any person entering her apartment. Tenant refused to permit NYCHA to conduct an apartment inspection supervised by tenant’s friend or by the building owner or while tenant wasn’t in the apartment.

Tenant filed an Article 78 appeal of NYCHA’s decision to terminate her Section 8 rent subsidy. The court ruled against tenant. Tenant failed to act reasonably in response to NYCHA’s attempts to accommodate her mental illness, which caused her to suffer panic attacks at the prospect of any person entering her apartment. Tenant refused to permit NYCHA to conduct an apartment inspection supervised by tenant’s friend or by the building owner or while tenant wasn’t in the apartment. Tenant also repeatedly refused NYCHA’s offer to have one of its social workers work with her to find a way to accommodate her disability.  NYCHA’s termination of tenant’s subsidy after five years of trying to accommodate tenant didn’t shock the conscience and was reasonable. 

 

 

 
KJ v. NYCHA: 2017 NY Slip Op 00564, 2017 WL 366219 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 1/26/17; Friedman, JP, RIchter, Saxe, Moskowitz, Kapnick, JJ)

Topics

More like this