A.S. v. Been

228 F. Supp. 3d 315, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14910, 2017 WL 448961
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 23, 2017
Docket16 Civ. 4067 (VM)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 228 F. Supp. 3d 315 (A.S. v. Been) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
A.S. v. Been, 228 F. Supp. 3d 315, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14910, 2017 WL 448961 (S.D.N.Y. 2017).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

VICTOR MARRERO, United States District Judge.

Plaintiff A.S. (“Plaintiff’) brings this action against Vicki Been, in her capacity as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (“HPD”), and HPD itself (collectively, “Defendants”), alleging that Defendants deprived Plaintiff of her due process rights, discriminated against her on the basis of her sex, and acted in a manner that was arbitrary, capricious and contrary to federal and local law by denying her the opportunity to be heard at an HPD hearing held to determine the termination of a voucher issued to Plaintiffs husband pursuant to Section of the Housing Act of 1937. See 42 U.S.C. Section 1437(f).

Plaintiff and her husband lived in an apartment together, with the husband receiving a Section 8 voucher pursuant to the HPD Housing Choice Voucher Program. In February 2014, Plaintiff alleged that her husband attempted to rape her. After reporting the incident to the police and obtaining an order of protection against him, Plaintiff submitted a HUD-91066 Form to HPD pursuant to the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) to initiate a bifurcation procedure through which the Section 8 voucher held by the husband could be transferred to Plaintiff. In June 2015, after Plaintiff submitted additional paperwork and met with HPD representatives in support of her claim, HPD, without notifying Plaintiff, held a hearing regarding the termination of the husband’s Section 8 voucher. After the hearing, HPD notified a representative at Sanctuary for Families that the Section 8 voucher would remain with the husband. In February 2016, HPD sent Plaintiff a letter notifying her that the Section 8 voucher issued to her husband was terminated, with no mention of a process to appeal the decision.

Plaintiff subsequently filed the Complaint alleging six causes of action: (1) violation of due process; (2) disparate treatment under Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (“Title VIII”), 42 U.S.C. Section 3604; (3) disparate impact under Title VIII; (4) disparate treatment under New York City Human Rights Law, N.Y.C. Admin. Code Section 8-107(5); (5) disparate impact under New York City Human Rights Law; and (6) arbitrary and capricious action by Defendants.

At the December 9, 2016 initial conference in this matter counsel for Defendants indicated that they intended to move to dismiss. (See Docket Minute Entry dated December 9, 2016.) The Court ordered a briefing schedule for the parties to submit letter briefs regarding Defendants’ proposed motion. (See Docket Minute Entry dated December 9, 2016.) Defendants filed a letter brief on December 19, 2016, arguing that Plaintiffs Complaint should be dismissed because: (1) Plaintiff had no protected property interest in her husband’s Section 8 Voucher because the voucher was not in her name; (2) Plaintiffs Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) claim should be dismissed because Plaintiffs claim does not concern a “dwelling” within the scope of the FHA; and (3) the Court should decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiffs remaining state law claims. (See Dkt. No. 25.) Plaintiffs December 30, 2016 opposition letter argues that: (1) VAWA establishes that Plaintiff has a protected property interest in her husband’s Section 8 Voucher; and (2) the FHA extends to conduct by actors [317]*317who affect the availability of housing, such as the HPD. (See Dkt. No. 27.)

The Court now construes the correspondence described above as a motion by Defendants to dismiss the Complaint (“Motion”). For the reasons discussed below, Defendants’ Motion is DENIED.

I. DISCUSSION

A. Plaintiffs Due Process Claim

When determining whether a plaintiff has an actionable due process claim, courts must determine whether the plaintiff possesses a liberty or property interest and, if so, what process was due before the plaintiff was deprived of such interest. See Ciambriello v. County of Nassau, 292 F.3d 307, 313 (2002).

“A termination of [Section 8 voucher payments] or voucher holders’ participation in the program constitutes a deprivation [of property interests] that would entitle them to procedural safeguards.” Junior v. City of N.Y., Hous. Pres. & Dev. Corp., No. 12 CIV. 3846, 2013 WL 646464, at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 18, 2013). Other courts have held that merely applying for Section 8 housing entitles an individual to certain due process rights where the local housing authority’s practices establish procedures applicable to the denial of an application. See Barfield v. Plano Hous. Auth., No. 4-11-CV-00206, 2012 WL 3135892, at *6 (E.D. Tex. July 6, 2012), report and recommendation adopted, No. 4-11-CV-00206, 2012 WL 3135674 (E.D. Tex. Aug. 1, 2012)(“Even if Plaintiff was not entitled to receive housing assistance, pursuant to PHA’s own guidelines, he was entitled to receive certain hearings and the opportunity to be heard once he applied.”).

The law remains unsettled, however, regarding whether a spouse, who was not the voucher holder herself, has a protected property interest in her spouse’s Section 8 voucher. The precedents Defendants cite in their Motion are inapplicable to this case. Junior v. City of New York, Housing Preservation & Development Corporation addressed whether due process rights attached when the housing department determined a plaintiff should pay a larger share of rent. No. 12 CIV. 3846 PAC, 2013 WL 646464, at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 18, 2013)(“Here, however, unlike most Section 8 cases in which courts have found the existence of a protected property interest, Plaintiffs’ assistance payments were not terminated. Instead, Plaintiffs’ complaint appears to be that HPD’s practice of requiring Plaintiffs to pay a larger share of rent, relative to their income, is unfair.”). Morales v. Related Management Company dealt with a plaintiff who was rejected for a specific apartment, but still retained his Section 8 voucher. No. 13-CV-8191, 2015 WL 7779297, at *6 (S.D.N.Y Dec. 2, 2015)(finding no due process claim where “Plaintiffs claim is based on Armory Piar za’s rejection of his application for an apartment. In other words, Plaintiff asserts a property interest in a specific apartment.”).

In this case, HPD terminated Plaintiffs husband’s Section 8 voucher and did not transfer the voucher to Plaintiff. While there is authority that suggests it is common practice in other parts of the country to transfer a voucher from an accused abuser to that person’s partner following proper notification under VAWA by the abused partner, no case speaks to this precise question, cf. Badri v. Mobile Hous. Bd., No. CIV.A. 11-0328-WS-M, 2011 WL 3665340, at *1 (S.D. Ala. Aug. 22, 2011)(“On April 29, MHB notified the plaintiff by mail that his assistance was terminated and that the voucher would be transferred to his spouse and children effective May 31. The letter stated that MHB ‘ha[d] received information that verifies that your spouse and children have entered a shelter for domestic violence.’ ”).

[318]*318A close reading of VAWA suggests that finding Plaintiff has no interest in the husband’s Section 8 voucher would run counter to the purpose of the statute to provide certain protections to survivors of domestic violence.

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Bluebook (online)
228 F. Supp. 3d 315, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14910, 2017 WL 448961, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/as-v-been-nysd-2017.