Shortt v. Pritchett, 2015-10316

• Court: New York Supreme Court Appellate Division
• Writing for the Court: WILLIAM F. MASTRO, J.P.
• Citation: 2017 NY Slip Op 07606
• Parties: In the Matter of Gerald Shortt, petitioner, v. Deborah Pritchett, Executive Director of the City of New Rochelle Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, et al., respondents.
• Docket Number: 2015-10316
• Decision Date: 01 November 2017

2017 NY Slip Op 07606

In the Matter of Gerald Shortt, petitioner,
v.
Deborah Pritchett, Executive Director
of the City of New Rochelle Section 8 Housing
Choice Voucher Program, et al., respondents.

2015-10316

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department

Decided on November 1, 2017

WILLIAM F. MASTRO, J.P.

JOHN M. LEVENTHAL

ROBERT J. MILLER

VALERIE BRATHWAITE NELSON, JJ.

(Index No. 2209/15)

Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, White Plains, NY (Jason Mays of counsel), for petitioner.

Harris Beach, PLLC, White Plains, NY (Darius Schafizadeh and Mathew Dudley of counsel), for respondents.

DECISION & JUDGMENT

Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78, inter alia, to review a determination of the City of New Rochelle Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program dated February 3, 2015, which, after a hearing, confirmed the termination of the petitioner's participation in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program (see 42 USC § 1437f[o]).

ADJUDGED that the petition is granted, on the law, without costs or disbursements, to the extent that so much of the determination as confirmed the penalty of termination is vacated, the petition is otherwise denied, the determination is otherwise confirmed on the merits, and the matter is remitted to the respondents for the imposition of a lesser penalty.

The petitioner has been a participant in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program (42 USC § 1437f[o]; hereinafter the Program) since 1999. On August 19, 2013, he was involuntarily hospitalized for mental illness, from which he has long suffered. He remained hospitalized until April 29, 2014. By letter dated March 17, 2014, the respondent City of New Rochelle Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program (hereinafter the Agency) advised the petitioner that his participation in the Program would be terminated effective April 1, 2014, on the ground that he had been absent from his apartment (hereinafter the unit) for more than 180 days, and that he had failed to notify the Agency of his absence in violation of his obligations under the Program (see 24 CFR 982.312[d][1]; 82.551[i]).

The petitioner requested a hearing (see 24 CFR 982.555) and also asked for a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act (42 USC § 3601 et seq.), waiving the requirement that he was supposed to have given the Agency notice of his absence from the unit and reinstating his participation in the Program. At the hearing, the respondent Deborah Pritchett, Executive Director of the City of New Rochelle Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, acknowledged that it was possible to terminate a particular housing contract, but a participant could

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remain in the Program and resume housing assistance, when, for example, the participant was hospitalized for a period of time. Nonetheless, following the hearing, a hearing officer determined that the Agency was obligated to terminate the petitioner's participation in the Program under the circumstances, and...