On the heels of pro-tenant City Council measures like enacting anti-harassment legislation, expectations among advocates are high, but also tempered by the financial recession. “We knew this bill was going to be expensive even before the crisis hit,” says Manhattan Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, a former housing lawyer who introduced the bill in 2007 and is working on scheduling a hearing in Council's Committee on Aging. “We need to take a gradual approach. But ultimately, I'd like to see all low-income tenants represented in court,” she says. “Even lawyers who are good in one area have a difficult time with housing law, so you can imagine what pro-se litigants face when it's their home or their apartment that they're fighting for.”
It's a sentiment that Elliott-Bloodman, as someone who has appeared in court with – and without – legal representation undoubtedly shares. Inside her temporary apartment, she stares at a photograph of her granddaughter and allows herself a brief smile. “I want to move on with my life. I do have goals besides running around trying to get the basic services that I'm already entitled to. I'm not asking for anything special,” she says.
Because of the property's condition, the possibilities – and responsibilities – of becoming an owner rather than a renter are hardly appealing. "Who knows what's going to happen? How can this even be an attractive place to live with the things that are happening now? Who is going to want to live here? Co-op?" she asks with a laugh. "I'll see it when it happens."
As she looks around the apartment, Elliott-Bloodman contemplates returning to the one venue that has frustrated her about as much as her living quarters over the years – the courtroom. “This time,” she adds, “I'm going to have to find a civil rights lawyer.”
Note: The SHUHAB Housing Development Fund Corporation is a unit of UHAB, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. City Futures, City Limits’ parent nonprofit, is a subtenant of UHAB, and UHAB Executive Director Andy Reicher is chairman of the board of City Futures.
