Celebrating a century of opening doors to justice and opportunity, the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York (LASNNY) finds itself at a historic juncture.
At its helm is Nic Rangel, a trailblazer who holds the distinction of being the first Hispanic woman to lead this organization.
“I grew up myself in a very low-income household,” Rangel said. “I grew up in a mobile home park in North Carolina. We moved to Albany, the Albany area in middle school and even there experienced some housing insecurity. And I experienced personally housing insecurity, getting through college.”
Rangel’s journey is not just a personal odyssey but a testament to her commitment to leveling the playing field for aspiring legal scholars from all walks of life.
It was eight weeks ago tonight when more than 100 tenants living at the Harbour Point Gardens Apartment complex in Troy were ordered out of their homes after city officials determined their homes were uninhabitable.
On Thursday night, several dozen of the ousted tenants gathered in the sanctuary of the Agape Apostolic Church of Deliverance to hear from representatives of the New York State Attorney General’s Office and from Legal Aid Society attorneys.
“My life has been totally turned upside down,” said Eric Spinner, President of the Tenants Association, “From the moment the tenants got thrown out I’ve done everything I can to put in place a safety net as meager as it does exist. It’s a 24/7 operation for me.”
Spinner says he’s fulfilling the responsibilities that some government officials have left unfulfilled.
Now that the state attorney general’s office is investigating the landlord’s role in the fiasco, not to mention the city’s role in evacuating the tenants, the hope is that the situation can be put on a faster track to rectification.
“I understand that they’re frustrated and we’re frustrated as well,” said Robert Romaker, Managing Attorney for the Legal Aid Society. “A lot of times legal recourse is not available or it’s not adequate.”
Troy City Council President Carmella Mantello says at this point she’s neither encouraged nor discouraged, but rather “hopefully optimistic”.
Tenant advocates coming together to answer questions following public outcry over evacuated Harbour Point Gardens residents in Troy.
Deputy Mayor Chris Nolan confirms there’s been an increase in calls to code enforcement since the Harbour Point story broke. As NEWS10 has reported, more than 130 tenants came home to an emergency evacuation order June 22 issued by Mayor Patrick Madden following multiple code enforcement visits to the complex, resulting in dozens of violations.
Since then, a majority of the tenants remain displaced from their apartments while the owner makes repairs, but the tenants have taken to city council saying the landlord is still demanding rent.
Friedman referring to resident accommodations at an area motel.
“This is costing us three times the amount of what people are paying in rent,” Friedman continued when council members asked about the company’s messages to tenants demanding rent.
One Capital Region legal expert advises if you’re in a similar situation, the most important thing to start with is document your complaints and send them to your landlord.
“A landlord is not required to make repairs to a condition that they are not aware of,” explains Robert Romaker, the managing attorney for Legal Aid Society of Northeastern NY.
“A text message or an email is really great, because it shows who it went to with the timestamps and everything. Some sort of written notice to the landlord specifically saying, I’m writing to ask you to repair XYZ, ABC—that’s the first thing,” he says.
For many in our region, housing is becoming harder to afford and harder to find.
Both the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York and the United Way of the Adirondack Region work to help thousands say in their homes.
“It’s interesting, there are always reports about how populations are declining in small towns and upstate New York, across the North County,” said Nic Rangel, Executive Director of LASNNY. “But, the truth is there is a lack of affordable housing in most of the state and pretty much everywhere.”
As the state budget is negotiated in Albany, New Yorkers are rallying for what they call a critical program left out of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $227 billion budget plan.
It’s called the Homeowners Protection Program (HOPP), and it assists more than 15,000 homeowners that find themselves in distress every year.
“As of today, 350,000 New York families are behind on their mortgage payments and at risk of foreclosure,” said attorney Marlene Morales of the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York. “New York State must ensure that the HOPP network will be there to provide help.”
LASNNY client Melessa Anderson spoke directly to why HOPP is essential. Fifteen years ago she bought a home in Schenectady after landing a new job. “In 2012, I brought my newborn twins to that house,” she said. “They took their first steps, said their first words there, learned to ride bikes in the driveway, and we planted a vegetable garden in the back.”
Several years ago, Anderson’s employer downsized, forcing her to take another job, which didn’t pay as much. The home where all her memories were made went into limbo.
“I was forced to file for bankruptcy,” Anderson said. “Unfortunately, this did not solve all of my financial problems.”
Enter HOPP. Over the course of three years, a network of legal services helped Anderson modify her mortgage payment, secure a new interest rate, and she was able to secure a higher paying job.
“I can breathe easy for the first time in a long time because our home is safe,” she said.
At Legal Hand, trained non-lawyer community volunteers provide free legal information, assistance, and referrals to help you resolve issues that affect your life. Providing legal information in areas like employment, housing, family, immigration, domestic violence, and benefits, and preventing problems from turning into legal cases.
Bethany Cereo [LASNNY Staff Attorney working with Legal Hand) knows firsthand the difference it makes in the courtroom for a survivor to have an informed attorney to help. While her work at Legal Hand is a break from the more tumultuous nature of domestic-violence advocacy in the courtroom, Cereo said, “I’m still doing the work that’s important to me, which is access to justice but in a slightly different way.”
Since the Legal Hand Call-In Center started in January of 2022, it has reached more than 5,500 people and provided direct one-on-one services to more than 700 people, which works out to an average of about 60 people per month.
Congratulations to Stuart Kaufman, Esq. on his promotion to Managing Attorney of Regional Intake in our Saratoga Springs office. We are grateful for your commitment to excellence, passion for achieving justice, and ability to lead and mentor others.
Stuart A. Kaufman, Esq. is the Managing Attorney of Regional Intake at the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Inc., in the organization’s Saratoga office. He has practiced housing law for many years, representing tenants in eviction matters. Since he joined the Legal Aid Society in 2006 he has practiced in matters involving housing, disability, elder law, family law, and domestic violence.
Mr. Kaufman has presented several trainings to professionals and lay persons on legal topics relating to housing law, family law, domestic violence, and elder law. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and serves as President of the Saratoga County Bar Association. He has been a long-standing member of the Saratoga-North Country Continuum of Care, previously the Saratoga County Housing Alliance, and has run the Saratoga Springs City Court In-Court-Attorney program. He has also volunteered with Cindy’s Comfort Camp, a grief counseling camp for kids, at the Double H Ranch in Lake Luzerne, NY. He earned his J.D. in 2005 from Northeastern University School of Law, and his B.A., with general honors, in 1996 from the University of Miami. He is admitted to the New York State Bar and the U.S. District Court, Northern District.
Congratulations to Joanna Davis, Esq. on her promotion to Managing Attorney in our Saratoga Springs Office. We are grateful for your commitment to excellence, passion for achieving justice, and ability to lead and mentor others.
Joanna S. Davis, Esq., is a Managing Attorney with the Legal Aid Society of NENY, Inc., in their Saratoga Springs office, overseeing the programs domestic violence/family law programs. Prior to becoming a Managing Attorney, Joanna was a Senior Attorney representing victims of domestic violence in Family and Supreme Courts, in Saratoga, Warren, and Washington Counties for the past 17 years.
Joanna has previously coordinated the Saratoga County Domestic Violence Task Force from 2006-2011, whose members included the Saratoga County District Attorney’s Office, Saratoga County Public Defender’s Office, Saratoga County Department of Social Services, local police, Wellspring and Mechanicville Area Domestic Violence Project.
Joanna lives with her husband and furbabies in Moreau, New York. She enjoys Crossfit and coaching volleyball for South Glens Falls Central School District and ADK Club Volleyball in her free time. Joanna received her J.D. from Albany Law School , and her BA from SUNY Geneseo.
The Albany County Legislature approved a $160,000 budget transfer earlier this month as part of an eviction prevention partnership between the city of Albany and the county.
The money will go toward a $320,000 pilot program, including a $100,000 contribution from the city, meant to help tenants facing eviction in Albany.
The county’s resolution approving the transfer passed 24-9, with all nine Republican members opposing it.
The city and county partners involved in the process still need to secure the third portion of the funding under the plan proposed by city and county officials.
The $320,000 figure also assumed a $60,000 contribution from CARES of NY, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness. The group received $1,975,266 in American Rescue Plan funding from the city earlier this year.
The nonprofit has not awarded that money to the program yet. Instead, it plans to open up its funding to a competitive bidding process in January.
The money from the program will be used for attorneys at the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York; an eviction intervention specialist to connect tenants with available resources through United Tenants Association; and to aid Albany Law School in efforts to train court advocates and represent select tenants.
With the start of winter, COVID cases are ticking up and the federal government is once again offering free at-home tests — four to a household.
Albany County has returned to a “medium” community level after two weeks of being designated “low” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At the same time, as the state’s labor force continues to decrease, Albany County this week launched a pilot program to help tenants facing eviction.
Albany County is investing $160,000 in the Eviction Prevention and Intervention Collaborative, known as EPIC, that will help county residents facing eviction with legal assistance, referrals, and information.
The legislature approved funding the pilot program on Dec. 19 and is working with the Legal Aid Society, United Tenants of Albany, and Albany Law School.
As of Nov. 11, nearly 4,000 evictions were filed in Albany County for 2022; of those, 72 percent are from the city of Albany. Currently, nearly 2,000 tenants are at risk of eviction or one missed payment away from eviction due to “repayment agreements.”
