Sumpter v. White Plains Housing Authority

• Citation: 36 A.D.2d 728,320 N.Y.S.2d 472
• Parties: In the Matter of Willie SUMPTER, Respondent, v. The WHITE PLAINS HOUSING AUTHORITY, Appellant.
• Decision Date: 08 March 1971
• Court: New York Supreme Court Appellate Division

Page 472

320 N.Y.S.2d 472

36 A.D.2d 728

In the Matter of Willie SUMPTER, Respondent, v. The WHITE PLAINS HOUSING AUTHORITY, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.

March 8, 1971.

The Legal Aid Society of Westchester County, by Martin A. Schwartz, and Andrew L. Levy, White Plains, of counsel, for petitioner-respondent.

Alonzo J. Drummond, White Plains, for respondent-appellant.

Louis J. Lefkowitz, Atty. Gen. of N.Y., appellant-intervenor pro se; Samuel A. Hirshowitz, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Maria L. Marcus, Asst. Atty. Gen., of counsel.

Paul W. Hessel, Gen. Counsel, New York City Housing Authority, New York City, as Amicus Curiae in support of appellant; Harold Weintraub, New York City, of counsel.

Before RABIN, P.J., and LATHAM, CHRIST, BRENNAN and BENJAMIN, JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

In a proceeding pursuant to article 78 of the CPLR to review appellant's determination which rejected petitioner's application to rent a housing accommodation in appellant's Winbrook Apartments, the appeal (by permission) is from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Westchester County, 313 N.Y.S.2d 133, dated August 7, 1970, which annulled the determination and remanded the matter to appellant for 'a full evidentiary hearing.'

Judgment reversed, on the law, without costs; petition granted only to the extent that the matter is remitted to appellant for action consistent with section 156--a of the Public Housing Law.

The record reveals that appellant, in rejecting petitioner's application, failed to comply with section 156--a of the Public Housing Law, which requires that an applicant who is determined ineligible for public housing shall be informed that he may be apprised of the reason or reasons therefor at a personal interview at appellant's office.

In our view, the administrative complications and burdens attendant upon the various housing authorities in the State preclude the rigid requirement ordered by Special Term for 'a full evidentiary hearing' in each case of rejection. Upon the oral argument of this proceeding the attorney for the Amicus curiae New York City Housing Authority (the operations of which will be directly affected by that ruling) pointed out that at lease 9,411 applications for public housing in New York City were rejected during 1970. Nothing contained in Matter of Williams v. White Plains Housing Auth., 62 Misc.2d 613, 309 N.Y.S.2d 454, affd. 35 A.D.2d 965, 317 N.Y.S.2d 935, requires a contrary holding, since ...