The Legal Aid Society intervened on behalf of impacted tenants in a lawsuit between the City of Newark and New York City. Newark sued New York to challenge the City’s Special One-Time Assistance (SOTA) program, which provides homeless New York City shelter residents up to one year of rental assistance that can be used in NYC or other jurisdictions, including Newark.

In 2021, a federal trial court denied Newark’s motion to dismiss our claims under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the U.S. Constitution. In 2022, in response to our litigation, Newark repealed its Needy Person Ban ordinance, which prohibited individuals who moved or sought to move from a New York City homeless shelter to Newark from using SOTA subsidies. In August 2023, we entered into a settlement agreement which preserves New York City’s ability to place homeless clients in Newark apartments, while adding notification and information sharing requirements between the cities.