About forty years ago, Mr. Hernandez[i], an honorably discharged Army veteran in his 30s, fell in love with Ms. Ortega, a tenant of a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) apartment. Mr. Hernandez and his 4-year old daughter, Colette, moved in with Ms. Ortega to live together as a family. Although they never married, Mr. Hernandez and Ms. Ortega lived as husband and wife. Over the decades, they raised Colette together, and eventually helped Colette to raise her own children. In 2010, following in her father’s footsteps, Colette joined the Army where she served for 4 years, including a deployment to Afghanistan. She was honorably discharged after sustaining injuries in service to her country. After she was discharged, Colette returned to her childhood home to live with her parents.
A few years after Colette moved back in with her parents, Ms. Ortega was diagnosed with cancer. As she declined over the years, Mr. Hernandez and Colette cared for Ms. Ortega until she passed away in 2019. By that time, Mr. Hernandez was 85 years old and suffering from stage 4 kidney disease. Not long after Ms. Ortega died, NYCHA informed Colette that she and her father were not entitled to remain in the apartment because they were not listed on the required annual recertification forms with NYCHA.
NYCHA scheduled a hearing for the family to make their case to save their home, but at the hearing, the due process rights of both Colette and Mr. Hernandez were egregiously violated. Colette was excluded from the hearing room altogether, leaving Mr. Hernandez, an 85 year-old ailing man who was unrepresented by counsel, without a real opportunity to present evidence to establish his right to a lease. The hearing officer denied their request for a lease in their names as remaining family members, and NYCHA then presented them with two options: move out or get evicted from their home of 4 decades. NYCHA then started an eviction case against them in the Housing Court. Mr. Hernandez and Colette were in shock. In December 2019, Colette visited VOLS’ Veterans Initiative Legal Clinic at the Manhattan VA hospital and told Staff Attorney Jess Penkoff her family’s story. Recognizing that their due process rights to a fair hearing had been violated we enlisted pro bono assistance to prevent their eviction.
In early 2020, co-counseling with Kathryn Kantha, Stephanie Adamakos, and Anish Desai of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, we helped Mr. Hernandez and Colette file an Article 78 petition in New York County Supreme Court to overturn NYCHA’s denial of their right to remaining family member status and a lease to their long-term apartment. In December 2020, NYCHA agreed to settle, withdrawing the eviction proceeding and promising a hearing at which Mr. Hernandez and Colette’s right to due process will be honored.
In the middle of a pandemic winter, although they are still grieving the loss of Ms. Ortega, these two disabled veterans are no longer facing imminent homelessness or the trauma of losing their family home 4 decades. VOLS is hopeful that NYCHA will observe their due process rights and give them a fair chance at fighting for the apartment to which they are legally entitled.
VOLS is grateful to Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP for their partnership with us on this case, and to our clients for their invaluable service to our country.
[i] Our clients’ names have been changed to protect confidentiality.