WESTCHESTER COUNTY OFFICE OF HOUSING COUNSEL NOW OPEN
Will Assist Qualifying Tenants with Free Resources and Legal Representation Surrounding
Housing Disputes and Evictions
View full event HERE.
(White Plains, NY) — The Westchester County Office of Housing Counsel (OHC) is officially open for business to ensure that financially eligible tenants have access to resources and legal representation at no cost to themselves in eviction and related proceedings.
The innovative program is the first of its kind for a county and will help stabilize communities and address housing insecurity. In addition to providing free legal services, the OHC will coordinate access to pre-eviction support and counseling programs under one roof.
The opening of the program was announced at a press event on today in White Plains.
Residents who are facing eviction, having trouble paying their rent, in a rent dispute with a landlord, facing a loss of essential services like heat and hot water, or are facing other problems, can reach out to the OHC to be connected to legal representation, counseling, financial assistance and other programs, provided through one of nine service providers that the County has contracted with.
Residents can call 2-1-1, where specialists at United Way 211 Helpline of the Hudson Valley will be available 24-hours a day, 365-days a year, to assess callers’ needs and connect them with appropriate providers. Alternatively, residents can reach out online by completing the OHC intake form at http://housingcounsel.westchestergov.com, which OHC staff will review before connecting them with relevant services.
Under Westchester’s Housing Counsel Law, tenants are entitled to free legal representation in eviction and related proceedings if their gross household income is 300% of the federal poverty level for a household of their size, or 60% of the County’s average median income for a household of their size. That means a family of three with a gross annual household income of $91,800 — $1,765 a week — would be eligible for legal representation.
The Office of Housing Counsel does not directly provide representation. It functions as a clearinghouse to connect residents with one of the following contracted legal service providers: Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, Human Development Services of Westchester, Hudson Valley Justice Center and the Law Office of Tracy Forrest, Esq.
To fulfill the advocacy, counseling and financial assistance portion of the office’s mission, OHC has contracted with the following service providers: Community Housing Innovations, Community Resource Center, CLUSTER, Westchester Residential Opportunities, Mount Vernon United Tenants and Human Development Services of Westchester.
Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said: “When the Westchester County Board of Legislators and the administration created the OHC, it was a promise to address housing insecurity head on, and it is a promise kept. The heart of the Housing Counsel law is the assurance that all financially eligible tenants have access to legal representation at no cost to them in eviction proceedings. The OHC will do that, but it will also do more. The Office is be a place where every tenant, regardless of financial means, can seek preventive services before a situation escalates to the point of an eviction proceeding. Our goal is to stabilize families and communities by keeping people in their homes and out of the shelter system.”
OHC Director George Asante said: “The OHC was created to fill a crucial need. The vast majority of tenants facing eviction go into court with no legal representation despite the outcomes being far better when tenants appear with an attorney. We want to make sure tenants’ rights are protected. But most of all we want to keep families in their homes. That’s why we are implementing a holistic approach to eviction prevention. We want you to reach out to us if you’re facing eviction, but just as importantly, we want you to reach out before you’re in trouble.”
Westchester County Department of Social Services Commissioner Leonard Townes said: “Our goal is to keep families in their homes whenever possible. The economic and social toll when a family becomes homeless is enormous — in both the short term cost to the County of sheltering a homeless family and in the long term consequences of housing instability on children’s’ development and future opportunities for adults. Not every eviction is preventable. But having eviction prevention and legal representation access centralized at the Office of Housing Counsel, with a continuum of services, will make it much easier for Westchester residents to access these life-saving supports.”
Hudson Valley Justice Center Executive Director Jason Mays said: “By expanding access to counsel in eviction proceedings, Westchester County’s Office of Housing Counsel will allow tenants to access their protections and defenses under the law, ensuring that the law operates in the courtroom as the legislature intended. HVJC commends this new program and hopes to help the County ensure it remains successful long into the future.”
United Way of Westchester and Putnam President and CEO Tom Gabriel said: “Housing is a fundamental human right, something that the County’s new Office of Housing Counsel will ensure for all Westchester County residents. The United Way, through its 211 Helpline, is honored to support this new initiative and serve as an entry point to assistance for people facing eviction or dealing with housing insecurity.”
