The FHEPS Program is an absolute fraud......

First I want to say that this blog is great. I don’t feel alone after reading the stories. I rented to a tenant who had FHEPS and after 7 months they stop paying the rent. The reason was because the tenant got her Public Assistance case closed. This made no sense to me because FHEPS required that I give the tenant a lease for a year and then they would pay the rent for the entirety of the lease. I am owed past due rent for 15 months. I was able to get a judgement against the tenant because ironically she moved and found another apartment using a FHEPS voucher. This made no sense to me because FHEPS owed me past due rent. How could FHEPS be paying rent for a new apartment when they owed me rent money? I contacted the City Comptroller and requested payment of the past due rents because the City agreed to pay the rent. Their response was that the City was not the tenant so they don’t owe me anything. This made no sense because the City agreed to pay the rent. No way would I have agreed to rent to a tenant that doesn’t have income if FHEPS didn’t agree to pay the rent. The FHEPS Program is an absolute fraud. No landlord should accept a voucher unless the City is listed on the lease as a tenant. Please post the letters I received from the City because these injustices and the workers behind them need to be exposed.

I can't believe it is this hard to evict a tenant who's not paying rent.....

I accepted a tenant who had a fheps voucher. The rent was being paid fine for 9 months, and then I stop receiving rental checks. I wasn’t aware that the checks would come at different times throughout the months. The rent was never paid on time. After 9 months I stop receiving rent checks. The tenant told me because they closed her public assistance case by mistake is why they stop paying the rent. Absolutely, none is this made any sense to me. I am now in the process of trying to evict the tenant and I started the eviction process 8 months ago. I can’t believe it is this hard to evict a tenant who’s not paying rent in NYC. No landlord should accept a tenant with a voucher. Carol

My beautiful house is now a complete mess and causing me $50,000 in lost rent and property damages.

I rented my unit to Clara Perez who had FHEPS voucher and the program never communicated and only paid me a few months of rent and then stopped because Clara failed to recertify in a timely manner . This tenant owes me more than $18000 in back rent.

They also started subleasing the house to unauthorized tenants and started collecting rent from them but never paid me. They continued removing and bringing tenants in due to malice between tenants resulted in property damages over $25000.Angry tenants before leaving the property poured concrete mix in the bathroom plumbing line resulting in choked plumbing. They peed on the carpets, damaged chandeliers, kicked doors and damaged them. They also broke bathroom tiles using hammer. They used to run the heat with windows open when outside temperature was 20 degrees. This caused heating unit to run for extended hours and ran out of life.After first group of unauthorized tenants moved out Clara rented the second floor to other tenants for $1200 (2 bedrooms and a bathroom) with paid utilities. These tenants continued using the bathroom with choked plumbing resulting in damages on the first floor and started cooking inside the rooms.When I gave them a notice to move out, they changed locks and blocked my access to get inside the property. Then they stated harassing me if you try to get inside the property they will get police on the property.Clara filed HPD complaint and HPD issued class A violations which later on upgraded to class B. My beautiful house is now a complete mess and causing me $50,000 in lost rent and property damages. When Clara received the court notice she filed for ERAP and now she is threatening me that you can’t remove me from the property because of pending Erap. Clara also cheated NYCDSS and claimed that she is a victim of domestic violence to collect benefits from the government. She thinks government has to take care of her because she has 5 kids. These people make babies to hide behind them when they face legal issues.I filed holdover eviction after lease was over and not claiming and lost rent in the lawsuit. I hope court can help me get rid of these tenants.Wishing everyone a best of luck here.

Below is a tale of a renter who currently owes 164K in unpaid rent....

Great blog.

Below is a tale of a renter who currently owes $164K in unpaid rent (28 months) on her luxury two bedroom in downtown Manhattan and it seems like there is nothing the landlord can do. Despite the renter receiving $6,000 per month the whole time in tax free child support meant for rent.

I’m aware that people involved the NYC rental market are amazed at the abuses suffered by landlords from the COVID eviction moratorium.  Hearing about abuses is strangely fascinating, but also instructive. If you think your readers would benefit from occasional reporting on these abuses and how some tenants game the system,  here is a particularly egregious example:

Rachel Lang has lived in a luxury doorman building at One Dutch Street in FiDi (also known as 45 John Street) and she has not paid her $5,850 rent for her two bedroom two bath spread since June of 2020. It is now 28 months and she owes $163,800.  The building has a doorman, fitness center and rooftop lounge with river views of downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. The landlord started eviction proceedings in April 2022 when the eviction moratorium ended. Lang then applied for the “ERAP”  (emergency rent assistance program) which “stays” the eviction while the application is pending.  Since April there have been three adjournments in the case, with the latest delaying proceedings until December 2022.  Because Lang has not paid almost $164K in rent the landlord also applied for government money under for the landlord rental assistance program.

The incredible part is that I have been paying Lang $6,000 per month as tax free child support for two children the whole time.  The money is tax free to Lang and I also pay all medical insurance and bills. Lang only has the children (aged 9 and 11) half the time (15 days a month) and they are in school full time most of those days.   COVID shut Langs’s face massage business but it was allowed to reopen in March 2021 and many competitors reopened.  Yet Lang did not reopen or seek work of any kind since March 2020.  She previously was the spa director at the Gansevoort Hotel in the meatpacking district. According to Lang, when she was earning income the child support from me prior to COVID was  2/3 of her income.  So even during the first year of COVID (March 2020 -21) Lang only lost 1/3 of income but she decided to abuse the eviction moratorium and pay 0% of her rent.  Since March 2021 Lang has been free to reopen her business or work any other  job (as jobs go begging) but she elects not to work.

Neither I nor the owner of 45 John know what Lang has done with the $164K in child support she received which was meant for rent.  Since Lang stopped paying rent she has taken extended trips to Costa Rica, California, New Mexico, Montreal, Nashville, Atlanta and other places. She bought a pure breed dog from a breeder in North Carolina and paid the breeder to personally fly to NY with the dog to deliver it to Lang.

I calculate Lang’s tax free annual child support to be equivalent to about $110,000 in pre-tax salary. Yet Lang has applied for the ERAP program seeking the maximum payment which the landlord claims could be worth around $87,000. This would come at the taxpayers’ expense. And because Lang has not paid rent the landlord is seeking government rent relief, also at the taxpayers expense. To add insult to the taxpayers injury, the court appointed a free lawyer for Lang to help her continue to live rent free in her luxury building.

The joke is that even if the Landlord “wins” its motion (scheduled to be heard on December 1) regarding lifting the ERAP eviction stay, that only moves the case out of the stay and into eviction. Eviction could take another six months or longer.  This case seems destined to hit the three year mark and cost the landlord over $200K before legal fees, making it an impressive grift.  

The case and documents are public.

Case:  45 John NY LLC v. Rachel A. Lang, et. Al

Case No:  LT-306016-22/NY

Landlord’s Rep:  Vladislav Tsirkin  646-403-9700

Landlord’s Attorney:  Noah Levenson at Butnick Levenson  212-362-1197

Attached are some of the documents filed in the case which are part of the public record.

My contact is:

Joseph Brosnan 

Regards,

Joe Brosnan

It's apparant that the vouchers don't pay the rent correctly.....

The homeless problem will only become worse and its because it’s hard to evict someone. If it was easier to evict tenants then landlords would be more open to renting and accepting vouchers. Unfortunately, you have incompetent lawmakers who think that the way to solve the homeless problem is by stopping evictions. It’s apparant that the vouchers don’t pay the rent correctly or else you would have landlords lined up to accept them. I am sure that my situation is like one of many. I accepted a tenant who had the fheps voucher and fheps stop paying the rent because the tenant public assistance case got closed. Which to me is a complete breach of the lease agreement. It is unfortunate that these situations are happening. Thank you for this blog. Evan

I am curious...why the real estate lobby...hasnt brought a lawsuit against the city...

Hello,

I came across your blog with the FHEPS horror stories. I am curious to find out why the real estate lobby or small property owners association hasn’t brought a lawsuit against the city regarding the legality of these vouchers? If they are not considered permanent housing subsidies that will be paid on time and for all lease renewals how does the city force you to accept a voucher if you know the tenant cannot afford to pay the rent if the voucher is not renewed. At one time, buildings with less than 6 families did not have to accept a voucher. Now only 2 family houses or owner occupied is exempt. It is my understanding that the voucher has to be recertified every year and only up to 5 years. What happens after that time? More than likely the tenant cannot pay on their own. The city is not signing as a guarantor. And if a landlord should say that they don’t take vouchers a discrimination lawsuit is filed against them.

Host Response

My guess is that the real estate lobby or small property owners association hasn't brought a lawsuit against the city because of difficulties involved in suing the city. From my experience most attorneys like slam dunk easy cases. Although, this is an obvious easy slam dunk case and should be a class action lawsuit; I believe that most attorneys don't like suing the city because of the amount of time and resources it will take. The vouchers specifically the FHEPS or CityFHEPS voucher completely violates the terms of every lease. The rent is never paid in full before the 5th of each month, and if the tenant Public Assistance case gets closed then FHEPS/CityFHEPS stops paying the rent immediately, and they don't honor the yearly lease although they are requiring the landlord to provide a lease for a year. It really is horrible and no landlord should ever accept a tenant with a FHEPS/CityFHEPS voucher.

She owes over $16,000.......

I am a landlord that owns a two family house, first floor‘s rent it to a cityfhaps Tenant.
******** refuse for me to do certain repairs on the property so I had to start eviction, Cityfhaps stop paying her rent because they wanted me to renew her lease I refuse, so I did a hold over so I can evict her, she was supposed to leave by June 30,2022 she still in the apartment.
I am waiting on a court order so they can send the eviction notice to her then the sheriff.
She owes over $16,000 in rent do you kn how can I get those money after she leaves
Thank You..
Sherel

What are the best practices to take as a landlord in New York City?

I keep getting requests from landlords asking what should they do about not receiving rent from a voucher tenant, and what steps should they take to remove a problem tenant. I am not an expert in this matter but I will provide as much knowledge as possible. As a landlord the best practices should be to keep things simple. When renting to a tenant make sure they have good credit. At least a score above 650 but you also want to look at their credit report. Determine if they have been late in paying things. You can still be late in paying bills, and have a credit score of over 650. Determine the tenants rental history. Contact their past landlords and determine what kind of tenant they were. Verify their income by checking bank statements and pay stubs. Contact their employer to confirm employment. If all of these things can’t be done then don’t rent to the tenant. You are better off leaving your property empty until a qualified tenant comes along. Not accepting a voucher is not discriminatory because some vouchers violate the terms of the lease. CityFHEPS requires the landlord to give the tenant a lease for 1 or 2 years. That lease states rent is due on the first of the month. CityFHEPS never pays the rent on the first of the month so therefor they violate the lease. Only Section 8 has a great track record of paying the rent on the 1st of the month. You should still do all the checks I previously mentioned on a Section 8 tenant because they will have a portion to pay, and you want to make sure they are capable of paying their portion. Unfortunately, if you have to evict a tenant in NYC that is also a nightmare. The laws are set up to help the tenant and not the landlord. Your best option is to probably retain an attorney to handle the matter. I hope this post is beneficial. Justin

An abusive program.....

2 Stories in One!!!! CITY FHEPS OWE ME $25,740.00

An Abusive program

I am a small landlord with one rental property. The first tenant that I have in the 3-bedroom apartment

came from a shelter through City Feeps. The family stayed at the apartment for three years. City Fheps

never sent me the Landlord Bonus that I singed for. Later one, the husband in the family got arrested

twice, they lowered the rent by $400 for 11 months ($4,400) because he was not living at home. Besides

the woman did not pay for three months. Thank God they left, but destroyed the apartment in a 60% of

the structure.

I Spoke to the homebase located at, THE HOMEBASE Bronxdale

Catholic Charities Community Services 2901 Whiteplains Road 347-913-4694 but the

supervisor told me that she had nothing to do with this case. That she was going to close it, and

I should go after the city. Sincerely, ElProfe

A Ghost Called CityFheps

In march 2020 a Realtor introduced me a family that had to move because their previous apartment had

been sold and they needed a new place. I thought that City Fheps was a secure program, and I decided

to rent again for tenants with City Fheps. The apartment pass the inspection, and two social workers

came in to inspect the premises.

1- They moved in in March 2020, right at the beginning of the Pandemic, and the tenant was

supposedly working with a HOMEBASE CATHOLIC CHARITIES Unionport Catholic Charities

Community Services 2155 Blackrock Avenue 718-414-1050. I emailed then the papers

several times, and they never processed, even after the pandemic. ‘

2- I never received no even $ one penny of rent from City Fheps from March 2020 till

March 21, then on April 2021 till August 2021, CityFheps was paying $450 monthly for a

3 bedroom apartment.

3- City Fheps owed me as a Landlord a Total of $25,740.00 which I do not know If I will ever get

them.

4- I have tried several ways, One shot deal, the Erap program, I have written, emailed them, but

nothing work on my favor.

5- I am frustrated, I do not know what to do, I will never rent to City Fheps not Even if they offer

$5,000.00 per month.

6- It is June 22, 2022 and still I have not heard from them, and I have not received not even one

penny. I believe they just want to take people out of the shelters and place it in property of

good people to messed their lives up. Sincerely, ElProfe

I have developed and exacerbated mental health conditions.....

Hello, my name is Marisol. Sorry for the late email but I did not want to procrastinate. I would like to share my story about my cityfeps client. I have even considered putting it on the news. I have a 3 family home in which I lived up until one year ago. I have developed and exacerbated mental health conditions due to the hardships that cityfeps and HRA has caused me. Not getting rent for 2 years now and they treat small landlords like shit. I have been asking for help, looking for landlord support, and all doors are closed for us.

In short, would you be kind enough to call me for a conversation and perhaps some guidance or tips. I can share my experience and will be happy to do it on any platform. Injustice is injustice and we have to get our stories and voices heard. I would be happy to support this cause. Currently I am a graduate student of social work and am passionate about advocacy and justice. Sadly, as landlords, we are unfairly maligned and for me, has brought me to a mental breakdown. I would love to speak for others who may be experiencing this invalidation by the city agencies that support some and not others. Please call me.

Its impossible to evict the tenant.....

It is extremely difficult being a landlord in New York City. Tenants assume that you have money because you are a landlord. The reality is that most landlords don’t have a lot of money because the rent money received goes to pay your mortgage. Voucher tenants are not ideal tenants because they have bad credit which means they don’t pay their bills or don’t know how to establish good credit. The vouchers don’t honor the rent for the term of the lease, and never pay the rent on time. My tenant had a voucher and once her public assistance case closed they stop paying the rent. I am in the process now of trying to evict her and its impossible to evict the tenant. Shes going to get free legal help and the judge will let it play out for months. I’ve been through this situation before. If you are landlord in New York City I recommend not accepting a voucher tenant, and at this point I actually recommend not being a landlord in New York City. Jeffrey

NEVER Accept a tenant with a CityFHEPS Voucher.

I had a tenant whom was very nice I must say. Now my problem wasn’t with the tenant but at the same time it was. This tenant moved from one property to another property with me & I haven’t received over $14,000 from CityFHEPS due to they stating the tenant did not let his HOMEBASE know he was moving. That information was not true because I have ALL documentation stating that the tenant moved from one property to another with me. I even received an approve for renewal at the new address for the tenant from HRA. I have been dealing with this situation over a year and I had no choice to evict the tenant. I spoke to numerous people to try to get some help and every time I call no one knows what to do. I even spoke to Catholic HOMEBASE charities the person I spoke to argued with me on the phone, told me the case is closed and hanged up on me. I even wrote a complaint on the online site to the commissioner of HRA and I have not gotten a response. This city only looks out for tenants and not landlords. I am at a loss of over $14,000. How could ANY landlord let this slide. At this point, I am starting my process and taking CityFHEPS to court. How is it there isn’t a system for landlords for issues like this.  (This post was edited to remove the name of the individual who works at Catholic HOMEBASE)

Amentari

If you want headaches and financial issues then rent to a tenant who has a voucher.

I rented my apartment to a tenant who has what is called City Fheps. They never paid me rent on time but that was the least of my worries. The tenant completely destroyed the property. I was in complete shock when I saw the damages the tenant did to the apartment. I included pictures of some of the damages in this email. To make matters worse this tenant was actually responsible for caring for children. If you want headaches and financial issues then rent to a tenant who has a voucher.

Sincerely,

Sal

Massive holes in walls.

Bathroom door cracked.

Cabinets destroyed.

Intentional holes In walls.

Don't accept tenants with a City FHEPS rental voucher.

I accepted a tenant who had a City FHEPS rental voucher and I was completely mislead. For the first 6 months they sent me different rental checks and it was hard to keep track of if the rent was being paid in full. The tenant never paid their portion. Now I haven’t received any check in 3 months. I call the City FHEPS number that is online 929-221-0043, and NO ONE answers the phone. This program offers zero support for landlords and zero support for tenants after they move. Whoever is responsible for this program is only concerned with moving people out of shelter even if that person is not fit to live on their own. This program is a travesty.

Johnathan

Sorry but tenants are not the primary victims...

For the record, landlords have bills to pay too. We can also end up homeless, and many are facing foreclosure because of this program. Both parties are cheated, but the tenants do not have it worse. To make matters worse, some of us have children, and CityFHEPS vouchers only go to single/childless adults. I'm sorry, but at the end of the day, these people can go back where they came from. We can't afford to lose what we've spent decades building.

– Autumn

I am posting what this landlord has sent me but I will correct one statement. Families with children also have CityFHEPS vouchers.

These kind of people should live in a shelter for the rest of their lives.

I'm a Landlord and one year ago I rented a room to CityFheps tenant and from she moved in, I had problems, she won't comply with the house rules, and constantly flooding the tenant beneath us. After having a conversation over and over with this tenant, I just could not do it anymore. She doesn't clean the bathroom, she wears shoes in the house, she clots the bathroom drain with hair and food. I finally gave her notice and this tenant had been nothing but hell. This tenant stopped paying rent and started with treats, shortly after she took me to court for harassment because I added additional cameras around my home, I also added a smoke detector because she started to smoke inside the room. However, the Judge saw through the bull and dismissed the case and she went off. After this case was dismissed, this tenant brought people to my home to try and attack me. She doesn't work, she snoops around all day, stalking me and my husband when we leave for work. Another incident was one morning, my son was going to work and she followed him and tried to fight him, while she called the cops and claimed that he broke into her room and attacked her. I showed up immediately while the cops were present and showed them my order of protection and explained the situation. THis woman told my husband to get out of his own house and ask him why he's there. She started damaging things inside the house and telling me that she's not moving. Pouring water inside the light switches, damage the icemaker on the fridge, and dragging the shopping cart inside my home. After all of this, this tenant assaulted me and I had to get her locked up and the court let her remain in my home. This tenant also broke the key in her room door lock and called the cops and told them that I changed the lock. I presently file a holdover to evict her and can't wait until January 15.These kind of people should live in a shelter for the rest of their lives. She refused to move and told me boldly that she was not moving. A Lot more to share but it's too much! Lori

Thank God I came across this blog!

I am so happy that I came across this blog. I was considering renting to a tenant who told me they had a City fheps rental voucher. I really don’t know anything about it but I was told that I would get 4 months rent up front which struck me as odd. Who pays 4 months rent up front? What is the catch? I was considering renting to the tenant but then I was told I had to fill out tax forms and give my social security number and many other forms. I kept getting pressure from a housing person to rent to the tenant. It was almost like they thought they were doing me a favor if I rented to the tenant who was unemployed with terrible credit. Then I did some research and checking on my own. Thank God I came across this blog! I don’t think any landlord should accept City fheps. Barb

Desperate

I had a FHEPS tenant that moved in June 1, 2020 and her portion of the rent due me monthly is 297.00. I was paid it once in august of 2020, nothing after that from September 2020 till now Sept 2021. To make matters worse FHEPS sent me a check in the wrong name and I couldn’t cash it. I am not able to speak to anyone who works for FHEPS to fix the problem. .I don’t discrimate I’m not a slum lord they had a beautiful place that is in ruins. The tenant doesn’t use a shower curtain so my down stairs apt the ceiling is ruined from water they do not put out the garbage. They simply throw it under the stairs and it brings rats which I never had before. Dealing with FHEPS its like I am begging for money that is owed to me. I am very close to loosing my building due to her non regard for the property and malicious behavior. I really need help and I’m desperate. Annonymous

CityFHEPs Nightmare

Last year I rented the second-floor apartment of my two-family home to a family being supplemented by CityFHEPs and it has proven to be one of the worst mistakes of my life. From the beginning, I've had issues with the tenant paying her portion of the rent on time. Now she is 4 months behind and I received a letter from CityFHEPs stating that they will no longer be paying their portion after August 31st. On top of that, the woman has been extremely untidy, has caused damage to the unit, has brought a dog into the apartment that pees everywhere as they don't walk the dog, throws trash out of the window, continues to clog the toilet by throwing solid food, toys, and trash in there, and the list goes on. To make things worse, she is extremely confrontational and hostile. I am extremely depressed that I have to live in this house with these people on top of them not paying rent. I really hope that the laws on evictions change soon.

Whatever you do, please say no to CityFHEPs

P.D.

I didn't know what I was getting into...

I wish I came across this blog before I decided to rent to a tenant who has a voucher. These vouchers are illegal. They requested that I give the tenant a lease for 1 year. The lease clearly states that rent is due in full on the first of the month, and if its not paid on the first of the month then there will be late fees. The rent is NEVER paid in full on the 1st of the month. This was never explained to me. I didn’t know what I was getting into and it seems impossible to get out. No landlord should ever accept a tenant with a voucher. They are just asking for trouble. Howie