VOLS’ Marcia Levy Calls on NYC Council and Administration to Restore Commercial Lease Assistance (CLA) Program

Testimony by Marcia Levy, Executive Director, Volunteers of Legal Service

I am Marcia Levy, Executive Director of Volunteer of Legal Service, VOLS, which for 35 years has provided free civil legal services to low income New Yorkers. Our programs benefit small business owners, immigrants, seniors, veterans, LGBTQ New Yorkers, incarcerated mothers, children, and unemployed workers.

I want to emphasize that free legal support is an essential service to low-income New Yorkers in every Council district of every Borough.  It is the one way to provide access to justice and break down the barriers that you have heard so much about today.

This morning we learned that the Administration’s preliminary budget has fully cut $1.2M in funding to the City’s critical Commercial Lease Assistance program, which we implement in partnership with the Department of Small Business Services, TakeRoot Justice and Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A.

It cannot be acceptable to ask us to stop serving commercial tenants on July 1 when rent is due and at the height of the crisis facing small businesses, when we have already seen a tenfold increase in request for just type of support. We all agree that small businesses are under severe threat and need support. The CLA program has already provided direct legal assistance to more than 1,200 small business owners, and we are reaching the low-income, women, immigrant, and minority-owned businesses that are often overlooked.

Yesterday Chair Gjonaj called on the administration to give SBS the funding it needs to save as many small businesses as possible.

Eviction proceedings against commercial tenants are slated to restart imminently. The CLA Program is the city’s only full-service commercial tenant legal representation program. We don’t just advise small businesses how to respond to landlords – we negotiate directly with their landlords to get them the relief and justice they deserve and desperately need.

The successful CLA program is in place today and it is ready to continue on July 1 when the new budget is enacted. Out of all the tools available to policy makers, this program is a bargain. Low-cost, high-impact.

Councilmembers Levin, Gibson, and Rivera, as well as the SBS Commissioner and others, have already acknowledged that this program is the lifeline small business owners need right now.

I respectfully urge the Council and Administration to re-fund and increase funding for the Commercial Lease Assistance Program during the crisis, and certainly not to pull the rug out from under small business owners just when the rent comes due.

Thank you and I am happy to answer any questions the Council may have.