Q&A
Council Member Sandy Nurse questions HPD on Certificate of No Harassment program and Intro 621
1:32:01
·
4 min
Council Member Sandy Nurse inquires about the Certificate of No Harassment (CONH) program, focusing on Intro 621 and the potential inclusion of illegal evictions in the program's criteria. HPD representatives discuss the research process, working group composition, and future plans for the program.
- The CONH program's research involved internal and external stakeholders, with HPD's research team leading the effort.
- Discussion on the program's sunset in 2026 and the process for potential reauthorization.
- HPD to provide a report to the City Council in November 2025 with analysis and recommendations for the program's future.
Sandy Nurse
1:32:01
Okay.
1:32:01
No problem.
1:32:04
I had a question about, 621.
1:32:10
More just for me to understand how to better think about this bill, in terms of the operationalizing the inclusion of illegal evictions into the pilot, program that you Can you, tell me how long did the the research take in terms of developing that criteria and if it was done in house or if it was, like, outsourced to some groups?
Pierina Sanchez
1:32:41
So there
Lucy Joffe
1:32:41
was a working group that involved, folks internally and externally.
1:32:46
The research itself was done by the research and evaluation team at HPD, who I am a bit biased, but does some of the best research in this area.
Sandy Nurse
1:32:54
I will take your word for it.
1:32:55
I'm sure they are.
Lucy Joffe
1:32:56
Yes.
1:32:57
And so they led the research component of this, but the working group peer period actually predated both Marty and I, I think, in our current roles.
1:33:04
Or you were involved from both sides, but that actually was a multiyear effort.
Lincoln Restler
1:33:10
Okay.
Sandy Nurse
1:33:12
And you said it was done most mostly in house with some external partners in the working group?
Lucy Joffe
1:33:22
The policy was developed did you sorry.
1:33:25
Policy was developed as a collaborative interagency working group.
1:33:29
The research itself, HPD has access to, unique data sources that other people don't.
1:33:34
This is the same team that conducts the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey, so they were providing a lot of that, technical support.
Marti Weithman
1:33:42
I would just add that the working group did include the external, parties of advocates, legal services providers, as well as, some representatives from the landlord side.
Sandy Nurse
1:33:52
Okay.
1:33:53
And if if, I understand that this predated you all being there, but if if, I would it would be helpful to know if unlawful lockouts and legal evictions were at all considered during that, by that working group.
1:34:09
I I don't imagine you might have it today, but if you could, in the follow-up, just let us know if it was considered and what some of the findings were or the rationale for for not including it, because I think it would be, you know, I think the program sun setting in 2026, although that seems like just around the corner, understanding, just isolating this one particular condition of an unlawful lockout might reduce the time needed to research, but then also if there was anything considered in the past that might additionally reduce the time to research that criteria, and including it.
1:34:52
And then in terms of it sunsets in 2026, could you, just expand on what happens after that?
1:35:00
Like, is there a period right before it sunsets where you all are doing assessment, like, some proactive looking ahead and saying, like, we definitely want to continue this program.
1:35:10
Here's some tweaks we're already anticipating.
1:35:12
Because I'm wondering if there's a way to build this into some of that proactive assessment that you might be doing before the sunset.
AnnMarie Santiago
1:35:20
Yes.
1:35:21
And thank you very much, council member.
1:35:22
So, actually, we have a report due to the city council in November of 2025 in anticipation of that sunset.
Pierina Sanchez
1:35:30
Okay.
AnnMarie Santiago
1:35:30
And so that will include an analysis of the program if we wanna consider, and I think we will consider, you know, strongly including this data if we're able to obtain it in a in a way that can be used for this purpose.
1:35:44
So that you know, be on the lookout for that, and we'll make sure you That's great.
1:35:48
You get a copy of that report.
Sandy Nurse
1:35:49
And then just in terms of the it sunsets.
1:35:52
You've got the report, then it sunsets.
1:35:54
How long would you think before you reauthorize the program or make it a permanent factor?
AnnMarie Santiago
1:36:03
And I think the goal of that report is to provide that information to the council because you would have to reauthorize Okay.
Sandy Nurse
1:36:09
The program.
1:36:10
Thank you.
AnnMarie Santiago
1:36:11
So yes.
1:36:13
So that's that's to provide you with the information, and our recommendations, of course, in that report, to suggest what we might wanna include, what maybe didn't work so well, what else might need to be changed, or what really was the strong, the strong aspect of the program.
1:36:31
Thank you.
Sandy Nurse
1:36:33
I think that's all my questions.
Pierina Sanchez
1:36:35
Okay.
1:36:35
Thank you.
1:36:36
And, no, I I appreciate how how much work you've done into this package.
1:36:40
So these are these are great questions and helpful.
1:36:42
I wanna turn it back to council member wrestler.
