The Legal Aid Society filed this lawsuit on behalf of eighteen low-income families who faced eviction from their long-term homes because their landlord, Cosmopolitan Associates, refused to continue accepting their enhanced Section 8 vouchers to pay a portion of their rent. In clear violation of Section 8’s statutory scheme, Cosmopolitan argued that it was no longer obligated to accept its tenants’ vouchers, and that it could seek to evict those who could not make their full rent payment without the assistance because it had opted out of a Project-Based Section 8 contract with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Generally, two types of housing assistance are available to eligible tenants under Section 8: project-based and housing-based. Project-based assistance refers to subsidies given directly to privately-owned developments and used to lower rents. In 1999, Congress amended the Housing Act to provide that, upon the termination of a project-based contract, the benefited tenants would receive assistance through enhanced vouchers which the landlord is obligated to accept.

In November 2005, we obtained a preliminary injunction enjoining Cosmopolitan from refusing to renew our client’s leases and ordering it to accept their enhanced vouchers. In 2006, we entered into a settlement agreement which made the injunction permanent.