The Legal Aid Society filed this amicus brief on behalf of an elderly tenant’s right to succeed to his deceased brother’s Mitchell-Lama apartment. The Mitchell-Lama program is an important source of affordable housing for low- and middle-income New Yorkers, and succession plays a pivotal role in the program by preventing the dislocation of residents who have little chance of finding another affordable unit.

In our brief, we argue that the New York State Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) should give more weight to evidence that affirmatively links succession applicants to apartments during the relevant co-residency period than it gives to evidence of a different address that predates the relevant period, an older address which the applicant has not updated. We also argue that if HPD may require that succession applicants have filed State tax returns or have established that they are exempt, it must examine the record for proof that applicants were exempt from filing such returns.

In December 2025, the Court of Appeals upheld HPD’s decision that Mr. Mantilla did not establish that he was entitled to succession.