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Q&A
Consequences for residents refusing to sign Section 8 leases during conversion
3:04:19
ยท
3 min
Council Member Banks questions the consequences for residents who refuse to sign Section 8 leases during the PACT conversion process. NYCHA officials explain the necessity of having an active lease and their approach to resident concerns.
- Residents eventually need to sign a lease as the Section 9 lease becomes invalid after conversion.
- NYCHA emphasizes the importance of community engagement and resident permission before initiating the conversion process.
- Officials state they have not yet encountered a situation where residents completely refuse to sign leases, and they work to address concerns over time.
Chris Banks
3:04:19
Okay.
3:04:19
So if a resident decides not to sign a Section eight lease, will you drag them in a court or will the management company drag them in a court to a to a victim thus making them homeless?
Jonathan Gouveia
3:04:33
I mean eventually they have to sign a lease.
3:04:35
I mean you have to have an effective lease and at the conversion the prior section nine lease falls away.
3:04:41
So they would need to have an active lease for the project based section eight conversion.
3:04:46
Yes.
Chris Banks
3:04:47
So if and then it goes back to an early point I was making with the need for community engagement and having the residents give permission before we even get to this process.
3:04:59
If a tenant opts out of signing the lease and is not in support of the conversion or you have a situation where you have a development that is not in support of the conversion and NYCHA goes ahead and they they put this particular development in and it selects them to be a part of the program.
3:05:23
How do you get how do you how do you get residents to sign on to a lease where they're not in support of the program?
3:05:31
How do you force them to do that?
3:05:33
And then dangle over their head their right to to to have an apartment over a roof over their head.
3:05:41
How do you do that?
3:05:42
Over a piece of paper?
Jonathan Gouveia
3:05:44
We have not had that situation yet.
3:05:47
I know we've been speaking about the situation with Doctor.
3:05:50
Crawford and again we keep saying we want to have a meaningful conversation with her about how to move forward.
3:05:56
But leaving that specific project aside, we have managed with all of our other projects to work through issues with with the residents and get them on board over time to sign their leases.
3:06:07
But it's in their interest to sign the lease.
Chris Banks
3:06:11
Is NYCHA aware we know NYCHA is supposed to provide oversight and when these type of controversies come into play, NYCHA is supposed to mediate.
3:06:23
Is NYCHA aware of any developments that have been converted over to RAD PAC?
3:06:28
And we're talking about past developments obviously, where there are tenants who have not signed over to the section eight lease.
3:06:38
Do you know the count?
3:06:39
Is there a specific number where you I don't
Jonathan Gouveia
3:06:41
know if we have a specific number.
Chris Banks
3:06:43
But is legal action being taken against those tenants?
Jonathan Gouveia
3:06:46
We are aware that some people have not signed leases in converted sites.
3:06:50
And, Jolene, I don't if you have specific numbers there.
3:06:52
Yeah.
3:06:52
If we can get specific one to use But what we wanted do is we've said
Chris Banks
3:06:54
as we've With with the amount of tenants and where they're at and what development they're in.
Jonathan Gouveia
3:07:02
Do you have that breakdown?
Gillian Connell
3:07:03
No.
3:07:04
We don't have that breakdown here.
3:07:05
But immediately after conversion, is definitely a top priority to identify any residents that have not signed the PAC lease and then continue to work with them to educate them about the rights that the PAC lease affords them and work with them to sign it.
3:07:18
That