Harlem woman denied affordable housing

Despite
a boom in affordable housing in the city, wheelchair-bound Monique Holloway says she still
hasn’t found an apartment after months of searching, mainly because she’s been
placed on a blacklist of would-be tenants who developers reject because of an
old Housing Court case on their record. According to DNAinfo, Holloway, 42,
said she found out she was on the blacklist last summer, when she applied to
live in The Tapestry Apartments On 124th Street in East Harlem. The developer,
C&C Management, wrote her a letter saying that she had been denied because
an old Housing Court case showed up on her background check. Even after a judge
dismissed her case, she still has not been able to convince the developer to
remove her from the blacklist. “I feel like it’s
discrimination,” she said. A spokesperson for the city Department of
Housing Preservation and Development said Housing Court cases are not supposed
to be among the criteria used in developers’ selection of tenants. Earlier this
year, the City Council passed the “Tenant Fair Chance Act,” which required
landlords to provide would-be renters with the names and address of companies
they use to screen applicants. But council members acknowledged they haven’t
been able to put a stop to the practice. [DNAinfo]