By Amy Holodak
This report will address residential tenant evictions in New York City, their prevalence, and the deep and long-term impact that an eviction can have on a single tenant and his or her family. This report will discuss current and upcoming social services, legal aid, and tenant support programming that is being utilized to address the eviction problem for low-income and housing insecure New Yorkers. Finally, this report will address the eviction problem through the lens of tenant screening reports and record keeping in Housing Court, which are unreliable, inaccurate, and place tenants at a disadvantage for securing future housing. Finally, this report will offer several policy solutions: hold Housing Court responsible for the depth and reliability of content of the daily court schedule prior to handing over their information to tenant screening agencies, institute a reasonable tracking system containing specific demographic information of Housing Court litigants, offer Portable Screening Reports as an alternative to Tenant Screening Agencies, provide screening reports to all prospective tenants during the rental application process, and expunge housing court record if the tenant won the case.