Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Announces Major Increase in the Number of Tenants in Housing Court Who Have Legal Representation

August 30, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Okay – well, I just had the opportunity to hear from three New Yorkers who literally were on the verge of eviction. They had to wonder whether they would be on the streets. They had to wonder about whether their family members would not have a roof over their head. And when you hear what people go through in this City every day, now many people are struggling to make ends meet, and how there’s such a fear that just one – one bill they can’t pay – would mean evictions and a sense of needing help – in so many cases not knowing where to turn. This is exactly why we have focused on getting tenants in danger of eviction the legal help they need for free – because it could literally be the difference maker, and that’s what we heard in all three of these cases.

I want to thank Maria Medina – who you will hear from in a moment –Vilma Muniz and Marielenis Villalona for joining us and talking about their stories. I really want to thank – it’s not easy – I want to say to all of them [inaudible] thank you because it is not easy to talk about the fears that you have and the dangers you faced. And Vilma bought her two beautiful daughters with her and these young ladies deserve a good home. And Vilma had to worry that they wouldn’t have a home. And when you think about the human consequences, the human cost of what an eviction means it makes abundantly clear why we have to reach everyone we can and help them stay in their apartment. It’s so important humanly, morally so important. It also means another person or another family does not end up in our shelter system, which is bad for them and bad for everyone. It’s the last thing we want to see happen if we can find a way to keep people in their apartments. So, I want to thank all of them. Their stories are very powerful. And I got to meet three members of our Tenant Support Unit. And I want to thank them – Karen de la Cruz, David Andrade, and Farhan Kapadia – thank you for the work you do all here in the front row – thank you so much. You’re taking this vision and bringing it to life. In the lives of so many people that you serve and the stories we heard about the difference we made and how appreciative people are that you were there for them – very, very powerful so thank you for being fine public servants that you are.

This is a matter of protecting families. It’s a matter of making sure there is justice – that people are not wrongly evicted. It’s a way, as I said, of combatting homelessness as well – to provide this kind of support. And that is why we have steadily increased our investments in free legal services for tenants who need them. Well, we knew that was going to make a difference, but now we have further evidence of just how big a difference it has made. We have a report that really lays out what this has meant for so many New Yorkers. And the news is good news. To put it in perspective, three years ago just one in a hundred tenants facing eviction in housing court had a lawyer – one percent, unbelievable to think about, but that’s the reality that we have in this city. Now, because of the investments we made, more than 25 percent of tenants have a lawyer to protect their interests and who help them to avoid eviction. So, literally just three years ago one percent, now over 25 percent have representation. And it is making a difference, and we intend to go farther. The investments we’ve already made will reach more and more people. For the fiscal year that we are in now, literally, a ten-fold increase – ten times as much investment in free legal aid for tenants as existed just four years ago in 2013. So, this is happening quickly, and we think it is crucial to ensuring fairness for New Yorkers and making sure that people can keep a roof over their heads.

I just want to thank – you’re going to hear from the elected officials who are with us – I want to thank all of them as well for their support in this mission. And a lot of their offices are helping to get the word out about these services being available. One of the things I say to my fellow elected officials, anytime you or your staff see someone in danger of eviction let’s get them that legal help right away. And we need you to be agents of that to help make sure that people get that support.

Now, what we have seen is change we’ve made connects with a focus that I know has been particularly strong in the City Council – a focus on ensuring more representation. And one of the realities that we created with the support of the City Council and the Office of Civil Justice who oversees all of the efforts to provide legal help to people who need it. And this is the first report that that office has made. These numbers that I said – the specific number is 27 percent now of tenants facing eviction have representation. That changed faster, I think, than anyone would have expected. But you can see the human reality of what it means. Every single person we reach makes a difference in their lives. The Council has been extraordinarily supportive and together with the Council we have put $110 million in this fiscal year into civil legal services. So, we can see already this approach is working. What it means in human terms 7,000 families – 7,000 families all of whom were facing eviction, all of whom could have ended up homeless – were able to stay in their apartment. Seven thousand families, over 20,000 individuals saved from eviction.

You know, we’re in the context of the biggest affordable housing crisis this city has ever known. It’s not something I am happy to say, but it is a fact. What so many of us knew a few decades ago in New York City has changed so fundamentally. Now, we are in a sustained affordable housing crisis. And the pressure is put on families is extraordinary. And that’s why we understand that we have to constantly be vigilant to reach each and every family we can because so many people are struggling. But we also know that when we save a family from eviction we give that family a chance to get their lives right and move forward. When a family slips into the shelter system it takes a long time to come back from that. It means dislocation in so many different ways. So, I wanted the public to understand why this is not only the moral thing to do, the humane thing to do, but that it also allows families a chance to keep making progress – whereas you end up in the shelter we know it takes a long time to get back on track after.

We’re going to keep developing these initiatives because we see them working.  We really appreciate the help of the Council in that. And we’re combining these initiatives with everything else we’re doing - the plan for 200,000 units of affordable housing; the rent freeze for rent-stabilized tenants; the investments we’re making to support the 400,000 people who live in public housing. All of these pieces flowing together; trying to sustain an affordable New York City. This tenant support unit – I mentioned in particular 32 member of it – they’re doing something the city government hasn’t done in this way before – literally, going out to the people and knocking on doors and going to community meetings and wherever people are to let them know they have this right to this kind of support. So, it’s not just that we have the big initiatives. It’s also we’re making a very human scale. We’re going directly to people’s door and saying you’re in danger of eviction, we’re here to help. We need our government to reach the grassroots a lot more in the context of this affordable housing crisis. And this is an approach that is very effective, but hasn’t been what government did so in the past. We believe in it.

And we also know that there are so many things we have to do to continue to prevent homelessness. There are so many things we have to do to get folks who are homeless out of shelter and back into affordable housing. We have done that now with over 40,000 New Yorkers over the last two years. All of these pieces have to work together. So, we’re going to be fighting this battle for a long time. One thing we know for sure, the investment we make in legal services is one of the smartest investments we’ve made. It has some of the biggest bang for the buck. It has some of the most positive impact on the families, and the best situation is stop homelessness before it happens, to sustain families while we can. That’s why these services are so important.

I want to remind all New Yorkers – please include this in your  coverage, our colleagues in the media – that if anyone thinks that they are threatened with illegal eviction, if they are not getting repairs, if they are not getting heat and hot water, if they are being harassed they should call 3-1-1. If we conclude that there is a legal case to be made we will give them a free lawyer. It is as simple as picking up the phone and calling 3-1-1.

A couple words in Spanish.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that I want you to hear from Maria Medina. And Maria is a wonderful woman, and I’m just going to say something for you before you start Maria. She made a decision to take care of other family members who couldn’t take care of themselves. And that is not an easy decision for anyone to make especially when they don’t have a lot of money of their own. But she decided it was the right thing to do, and she is going to tell you about that, but also that if she had ended up being evicted two other members of her family would have been evicted with her. And because she fought it and she got the legal help she needs it made all the difference. Maria?

[…]

Thank you very much, Maria, it was beautiful. Commissioner Steve Banks?

Commissioner Steve Banks: There’s really nothing I can say after that, right?

Let me just be very brief. First of all, I want to acknowledge the tremendous work done by our providers – the legal services organizations throughout then City, this network of organizations that are ramping up their services. When the administration began, the Mayor made a determination to consolidate all legal services programs in the Human Resources Administration and working together with the Council an Office of Civil Justice was created. I want to acknowledge Jordan Dressler who heads it up over there. A report was issued – is being issued today. The report is on the progress that we have made. They key items are – as the Mayor highlighted – the ten-fold increase in tenant representation and the preliminary findings based upon looking at the situation currently that representation went from one percent as reported in Chief Judge’s report in housing court just several years ago to now 27 percent. And that reflects a substantial increase, but I want to highlight that the programs aren’t fully ramped up yet. We’ll be doing an annual report, and we expect to see even further progress over the course of the coming year in terms of providing additional representation. And you have already seen the impact of the 24 percent reduction in evictions. This is really an old adage – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s far more cost effective to provide representation to in housing court to prevent people from losing their homes and ending up in shelter with the cost of shelter being substantially greater than a couple of thousands of dollars that we pay for lawyers to prevent evictions. Of course, no price can be put on preventing homelessness as Mrs. Medina highlights there were human costs here that were avoided by keeping someone in their home are literally priceless.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Now, I want to turn to Councilmember Mark Levine who was the sponsor of the legislation that created the Office of Civil Justice. And thank you having been such a champion for legal services for people in need. Councilmember Levine?

[…]

Thank you very much. Now, the Chair of the Public Safety Committee in the City Council – Councilmember Vanessa Gibson.

[…]

Thank you. And the reason we are here, Vanessa, is because the Bronx Tenant Support Unit is doing such an amazing job, and there are such powerful stories that we have heard about the good work that these folks and their colleagues that we had to come here and highlight it.

So, there is more good news in your district.

Councilmember Vanessa Gibson: Thank you. And one quick shout out to legal services and legal aide in all the other civil legal services provides. Thank you for all of your amazing work.

Mayor: Thank you. And I also want to say our colleagues who represent these communities in Albany have really been supportive of this initiative. Again, really been out there – out front getting the word out to tenants. I would like for you to hear from them first, Assemblymember Latoya Joyner.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you, Assemblymember. And now, Assemblymember David Pichardo.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Alright, we’re going to take questions about today’s report and about the work that the Tenant Support Unit is doing. And then we’ll take questions on other topics. But first, anything about this? Yes?

Question: I wanted to know what happened to the landlord in this Ms. Medina’s situation because he was passing [inaudible] –

Maria Medina: That’s what I would like to know.

[Laughter]

Medina: Because he literally – he actually stole my money. That’s what he did.

Question: Is he being prosecuted at all?

Medina: I have no idea, but he should be hanged.

[Laughter]

Mayor: Okay. That would be a strong penalty.

[Laughter]

It would certainly send a message, but go ahead Steve.

[Laughter]

Commissioner Banks: Do I have to follow Ms. Medina again?

Mayor: Yes you do. Yes you do.

[Laughter]

Commissioner Banks: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Every case has its own issues in it. As you know, as a legal services lawyer for many years before I joined the administration, and sometimes part of the resolution in the case takes into account that behavior by a landlord that results in a good outcome for the tenant. So, Ms. Medina is in her apartment. She had her – she was addressed in respect to her lease and respect to getting her Senior Citizens Rent Increase Exemption renewed. Those were all part of the variables of supporting – of resolving any individual case.

Question: So, that is part of the deal?

Medina: I have a copy of that check – that check I wrote out in my name. And the copy that the lawyer got is an entirely different name, but it is the same number of the receipt.

Mayor: I want to see if Steve can answer that and not sound like a lawyer.

[Laughter]

Steve what was your actual answer?

Commissioner Banks: She had excellent lawyers representing it in court and I’m sure they sought every remedy possible.

Mayor: So, it sounds like that was part of the deal.

Okay. Rich?

Question: But isn’t that a criminal action – if he is stealing money like that? I mean, do you just absolve him of that?

Commissioner Banks: I think what you’ll find, and I would welcome you to take the opportunity to do so, is sit in the housing court any day of the week you’ll find lots of cases brought against tenants by landlords that said they didn’t get paid, and the case is resolved with an acknowledgement that actually rent was paid or certain amounts were paid. And it is one of the reasons why it is so important to have gone from one percent representation just about three years ago to 27 percent representation now, so that people can have the tools to address these kinds of situations. What we find is the more people have representation in court the less the unscrupulous landlords behave unscrupulously because they know that someone will be representing.

Question: I’m not sure we asked this question too, but are you also providing legal aid lawyers for NYCHA tenants?

Commissioner Banks: There are – it’s a range of different programs that are in place. The program that is focused on preventing harassment in certain neighborhoods – that representation is provided for private housing in order to address harassment in private context, but there are also targeted services to certain neighborhoods, which are the largest feeders into the homeless shelter system and that includes representation whether it is in private housing or in section 8 housing or in NYCHA housing because we want to avoid any evictions possible that could possibly lead into entry into shelter.

Question: Do you know how many NYCHA cases you’ve had?

Commissioner Banks: We can get you that for sure.

Question: I’m curious given the extent that you’re touting of this – the beginning of this program whether you see any pathway to a [inaudible] in New York in housing court, which is something that some of your colleagues have called on the dais have called for in the City Council.

Mayor: I’d say, first of all, the current funding still has not been fully implemented. That will be in the course of this entire fiscal year. So, I think the first point is since we have a ten-fold in funding we want to play it out. We want to see how far it can reach. Clearly, I believe the core concept of making sure that people have representation, if they are facing evictions specifically is very, very important. We’re going to keep pursuing that. So, that is an area where I’d be open to additional investments if we find there’s more need that need to be met, but beyond that we – you know, there is a lot to appreciate about the larger notion. It’s very, very costly. It’s would be a tough budget decision because it would mean other things couldn’t be done. So, I think what I would say right now is let’s play out the money we have and as we find specific opportunities to invest more in stopping evictions that’s where I would make the priority.

Anymore? Yes?

Question: I wanted to know how many evictions are legitimate in your eyes? And second, what’s the name of your landlord, and can you provide the copy of the legal paperwork so we can see?

Medina: I have all the copies of everything.

[Laughter]

Medina: I keep copies of every bill and every payment. His name is Parkash.

Question: What is it?

Mayor: Last name is Parkash.

Medina: You know Parkash.

Mayor: I think he’s been reported on, right? Yes, he’s been well-reported on. You’ll find him very quickly.

Medina: He has done this to five other tenants – two had to move out because he – they didn’t want to deal with the legal aid. They just moved out, which is what’s sad because they couldn’t replace the rent, and they had a lease.

Mayor: And that is part I want – I really appreciate you saying that Maria because when people are harassed, and they move out because they don’t know where to turn or they don’t feel they can handle it – remember there have been a lot of cases that landlords is going to jack up the rent legally or illegally and you have a lot of apartments that will no longer be affordable. So, it’s not just the first and foremost saving a family from eviction it also may mean that we are saving that apartment as a long term affordable housing resource.

Question: How many evictions were legit? We’re talking about all sorts of [inaudible.]

Mayor: You mean of the cases that we reach how many do we determine that the eviction is legitimate. Is that what you’re saying?

Question: Yes, housing court [inaudible].

Mayor: Okay, I don’t know about housing court in general but what can we say?

Commissioner Banks: I think obviously as the Mayor said we’re at the early stage of ramping up something that has never been tried in this city – again, going from one percent representation rate to 27 percent representation rate. At this point, the providers are overwhelmingly successful because of the cases that we’re identifying are of cases of people who would lose their homes either through eviction proceedings or some type of harassment. So, the cases that we’re doing we are confident that they all meet that criteria. With respect to Ms. Medina’s landlord – I just want to remind everyone that the Mayor had a press conference about a month or so again in which we announced the joint effort by HPD and HRA to address certain landlords. Mr. Parkash was one of them. And we advised him and another that we would be evoking that 1960s law that gives the HRA Commissioner the ability to withhold rent under the Spiegel law, and we’re engaged in a process with Mr. Parkash in terms of addressing whether he is going to correct conditions in various buildings, or we’re going to have to go forward with evoking that. We’ll have more information about that shortly.

Mayor: Just – there’s one little point to your question so I think – I would almost put it into three different categories – illegal evictions, harassment, failure to provide heat and hot water repairs. That’s one very straightforward area where the Tenants Support Unit and the legal aid folks can help. There’s also situations – and we certainly heard some of that with the three families we met with – where they need help getting support that they have a right to, but don’t know how to get whether it is Social Security or its food stamps or things that would give them the resources to be able to afford the rent. So, not in every case is the landlord necessarily doing something bad, but if the families don’t get support, they would lose an apartment they don’t need to lose and in some cases what the Tenant Support Unit does also is connect people to benefits that will help them make ends meet. I think the third category you’re pointing to is what if, you know, the landlord has done everything right, and the tenant has done something wrong, and there is a basis for eviction. We’re obviously going to look at that, and if we have a case where we believe that the tenant is in the wrong we’re going to recognize that and respect that. But I think the vast majority – as Steve said – the vast majority of what we’re seeing is the first two categories either an inappropriate action by a landlord or a family that could be saved and could be kept in affordable housing if they had support that is already available to them, but they don’t know how to connect to it.

Yes?

Question: Sorry if this has been – if this is a reformulation of what [inaudible] has asked or if it’s in the report, but do you have a sense of how having a lawyer for these people who have gotten lawyers has impacted the outcome of their case like a statistic. Are 90 percent of people who have lawyers not getting evicted or something like that?

Commissioner Banks: There are a whole range of sources, and your statistic is correct. There are reports by the Chief Judge. There are reports by others over the years that have identified what the success rate is in the 90s. You know, you’re right – you’re absolutely right I thought you were –

Mayor: Insightful.

[Laughter]

Commissioner Banks: There is in the report great detail of the impact of having lawyers, but the statistics with respect to success rate has been reported in other context specifically by the Chief Judge.

Mayor: And I want to emphasize. I don’t think it’s a one to one correlation between the fact that there’s been from one percent representation to 27 percent representation and simultaneously we see a 24 percent decrease in evictions. It’s too simple to say those – because those numbers are so close that they exactly correlate, but that decrease in evictions – the number one factor in that was the presence of the legal services and the fact that we can specifically say 7,000 families were not evicted because they had legal services – 20,000 people overall. That is hard evidence, but I think the whole point about having this office and doing the regular reporting is as we ramp this up to keep looking to see how effective it is and if it is very, very effective that’s a recommender for further investment.

Okay, any other media questions.

Question: Mr. Mayor, Commissioner Banks so this obviously key to helping reduce the number of homeless New Yorkers and adding more money into the program seems like an answer to help it as well. What goes in conjunction with that? What are the top two or three things that are also needed to reduce that number?

Mayor: To reduce the number of homeless New Yorkers? Everything in terms of affordable housing. The biggest – look, again I want to emphasize most homeless people today are homeless for economic reasons. So, they are families that were in an apartment just like you’re hearing here. They were in the apartment and suddenly they couldn’t make ends meet. They end up in a shelter. If you can get them back to affordable housing they can make it again. The vast majority do not need supportive housing with all the additional services. And also the number one thing is keep building and creating or preserving affordable housing. And I would say on top of the anti-eviction efforts is all the efforts that we’re making to get people out of shelter and into permanent housing. You know, that number is now 40,000 people over two years or so. We have to keep ramping that up. It’s getting tough because of – you know – there is so little housing available in New York City, but that combination of building and preserving more affordable housing and getting people who are in shelter into the affordable housing that we’re creating and making it available that’s the way we turn the corner on this.

Question: We’re speaking of homelessness – from July 12th to August 8th in regards to getting the street homeless off the street DHS had contact with 4,084 people and convinced just 22 to go into the shelter, which is less than one percent. I wonder if that deductible – what you should do about that? And the second part of the question is this, when you talk to the homeless they say they don’t want to go into the shelters because the shelter conditions are terrible. And I just came from a shelter in Harlem called New Dawn where I can tell you the conditions are pretty terrible. And a person who was homeless and lived there and complained about it on Friday was beaten up by the people who worked for DHS. I wonder what you would like to say about it.

Mayor: I want to – I have not heard that case, and obviously if that is true I’m very, very concerned, but I need to check the facts on that. But on the question of how we get people to come in – so, first of all, we have said to everyone this is going to be a long, long battle because you are talking about people who in some cases, not only years ago, decades ago made the decision to be on the streets, and we have to work with each and every one to get them off the streets. We have seen some success. We’ve said at the outset when we talked about HOME-STAT – you know – you might reach someone the first few times you engage them, sometimes it could take dozens and dozens of times. We’re going to keep coming back because we do see it working, not enough yet, but we see it working and we need to deepen that progress. So, in terms of the question of shelter, you know we have put a lot of resources into improving the shelters. That’s going to be a long battle too. But this where the Safe Havens are so important because they are not the big shelters. They are much smaller facilities. They are much more conducive to folks who are on the street. Remember, now the difference I said, folks in shelter are overwhelmingly people who are in shelter for economic reasons. When you go to the street a whole different reality – overwhelmingly people with mental health challenges and substance abuse challenges. For them to go into a smaller setting that they have more confidence in being safe, and they can get the mental health support, they can get the substance abuse support – that model is being ramped up more and more. We believe in that model. We think it is one of the things that will persuade more people to come in.

Do you want to add?

Commissioner Banks: Since HOME-STAT was launched in March, which is the most comprehensive effort any city has tried to bring people off the streets. We have added 200 additional outreach workers, which is doubling the number of outreach workers on the street. We’ve said all along that it takes multiple contacts to bring people off the streets. The path that people follow to get on the streets is not a straight line and the path off is not a straight line either. However, preliminarily from March through July we’ve made nearly 1,000 placements of individuals off the streets. We’ve increased the number of Safe Havens by 225. And we’ve built a by name list of 1,200 people – who we have their actual names – and we’re actively trying to bring them in. That’s something that has never been tried in any city – to use that kind of technique. There are another 1,800 individuals that we’ve been trying to engage and have been refusing treatment – refusing our help during this period of time, but we’re going to keep working at this because you know what, the people ended up on the street one by one, and they’ll get off one by one. So, in just four months’ time bringing nearly 1,000 people off and many of them have stayed off – some of them have not stayed off because again that path is not direct – we’re going to stay after those and the Mayor has given us the resources to try what’s never been tried before in this city.

Mayor: I just want to make a statement then feel free – we’re going to be doing a report next month that looks at this very question because we want to analyze what’s been working with HOME-STAT and where there are areas we have improve. And we want to talk about what it is meaning for the overall situation. Here is an important thing to keep in mind, when HOME-STAT succeeds in getting someone off the street, folks go into the shelter system at least transitionally. Ultimately for folks from the street supportive housing is the solution, and we know the City is committed to 15,000 supportive apartments, but we are going to do a report next month that shows how that interplay between HOME-STAT and the shelter system is playing out, what pieces are working, where we have to put in additional investments and changes, and we’ll lay all those numbers out.

Go ahead.

Question: I understand it is excruciatingly difficult to convince people who are on the street to go into a shelter, but I wonder if it makes it more difficult to do your job when you have shelters and word gets around that the shelter is bad or that shelter is bad. And I just came from one, so I can tell you I have video of roaches [inaudible]. But when you have these stories get out – that don’t go to this shelter because its bad doesn’t it make it more difficult for you to do your job? And what – should you close a shelter like the New Dawn shelter because the conditions are so horrible?

Mayor: So, I’d say this – we have to create a new reality. We have to create a reality where folks who are homeless and on the street – I remind you that’s still an estimate of between 3,000 and 4,000 people – that they feel confident they can go in to a Safe Haven or a shelter and be safe and it be clean and they get the support they need. That work is happening every day at Safe Havens and shelters around the City. You are absolutely right. There are other shelters that are not acceptable. In some cases, we have been able to make the repairs, in other cases as Steve can delineate we have moved to shutdown certain shelters, change providers etcetera. We need to create a reality where there is greater confidence. Now, those very same stories you talk about Marcia have been out there for years and decades, not going to happen overnight. But I also would like to believe that word of mouth is still them out powerful advertising. If an individual goes into a Safe Haven, let’s say, and has a good experience, and stays off the street, that’s going to be a good example to others to come in and get off the street. You’re right when you say excruciating. I mean, imagine if someone who’s gotten to the point in their life that they decide the streets of New York City is a better place to be, to counter that, to help them come to the determination that they can be safe and well cared for takes an immense amount of work, and these homeless service providers are amazing – how patient they are and how diligent they are. But I think it all goes together, every time we can improve a shelter or close a bad shelter, it does send that message and we’re certainly also doing that with the cluster sites. We’re very devoted to shutting down the bad cluster sites. But, again, I remind you, the price of that – and we’ll delineate this in the report next month – is every time you close a bad cluster site, if you can turn it into permanent housing and clean it up, that’s great, but, if you close it down outright, those people have to go somewhere else for shelter and that creates a need for an alternative shelter location.

David?

Question: [Inaudible] 

Commissioner Banks: If you read through each element of the report, the report walks you through the different studies that have been done over time and it does show a steadily declining level of representation until the chief judges report shows in – beginning a series of reports – 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 – that representation was found by OCA to be one percent. So, some of the earlier studies found higher levels of representation. Ultimately, the chief judge – Judge Lippman’s reports that came out between 2010 and 2013, at a point in time which the State was adding money for legal services through the court administration, they found the reason that they needed to do that because there was only one percent – 

Mayor: I think you probably are the world’s leading expert on the point I want to raise – the history here – what happened – [inaudible] what happened with Mayor Giuliani. I think it would help people to understand that there was a different tradition of legal services in New York City that started to decline rapidly. 

Commissioner Banks: I know you’ll smile when I say this, but President Nixon created –

Mayor: We’re going way back, everyone.

[Laughter]

Commissioner Banks: – Created the Federal Legal Services Corporation, which used to spend –

Mayor: Liberal Richard Nixon –

[Laughter]

Commissioner Banks: – in the, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars on legal services. To give you a little bit of a context, New York City is spending about a third of what the country spends on legal services to provide these kinds of assistance. And the report details different studies that were done, and ultimately the marker that we’re working from is the data that OCA included in its own report as opposed to some of the other reports that were done by others that showed somewhat high representation 10-15 years ago. Let’s also remember what happened in the country between 2005 and the present, which had an impact on the loss of low income housing, which had an impact on funding for legal services both federally and at the city level. Also important to remember - January 1, 2014, the amount of funding for eviction prevention in New York City – $6.5 million. Now, the funding this year? $62 million. 

Mayor: Don’t you want to talk about your close working relationship with Rudolph Giuliani? 

[Laughter]

Commissioner Banks: During that period – I recall having a lot of legal services contracts canceled during that period of time.

Mayor: Right. So, I think it would help David – you don’t have to do it all now – if you would give him the background – you can do it afterwards – but of how legal services, legal aide declined during those eight years, and this is part of what lead to the pathway to that one-percent figure that Judge Lippman found a few years ago. 

Sir?

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: … member of the media, sir? I just want to make sure.

Question: Yes, my name is –

Mayor: No, are you member of the media?

Question: No.

Mayor: Okay, I’m sorry – only the questions coming from the members of the media but I’ll happily talk to you after. Okay? You get me right after.

Go ahead.

Question: Have any safe haven beds been added on Staten Island in the last year?

Commissioner Banks: No.

Mayor: Would you care to elaborate?

[Laughter]

Question: [Inaudible] churches –

Commissioner Banks: We look to [inaudible] homeless services throughout the city. It’s a citywide problem, and we continue to look for sites that are viable. And if you have any sites that you can tell us – we should look at we’d be happy to look at them.

Mayor: No – but we have to be clear. We have talked to the archdiocese about sites that they may know of either that are free or churches that would be willing to sponsor a safe haven – existing churches that have additional space. So, this is an on-going effort all around the city. But we certainly want to make sure we have them everywhere.

Question: Just to follow up, I know that there’s like a network of about seven churches on Staten Island that do take in people, at least during the winter. I’m just curious – are you guys connected with those churches at all because I don’t think it’s an official thing that they’re doing.

Commissioner Banks: Yes, there’s an outreach provider on Staten Island – Project Hospitality – that works with that network, and they’re one of our contractors. And they bring people in off the streets, and work directly with those churches.

Mayor: But a safe haven – just to be clear – those efforts are very positive, and I believe in them. I, once upon a time, in the previous administration had to defend those kind of grassroots efforts that were being undercut. But Safe Havens come with a whole lot of very specific services that have to be attached. So, it’s not just providing the overnight shelter, which is good, but it’s a much more developed thing where we have to find partners who are ready to do that. But the answer to the, I think, underlying question – will be looking to do more of that in Staten Island? We’re looking to do more of that in all five boroughs – absolutely.

Okay, on this topic. Last call.

I also want to thank Councilmember Steve Levin, the Chairman of the General Welfare Committee, that’s been in the middle of all the things we’re talking about, and has been extraordinarily supportive, and helped us to put together the resources through the Council to do a lot of this work. So, thank you, Steve.

Last call on any of these questions before we go to – okay.

Question: Mr. Mayor can you discuss how tenants are finding these services. Is it outreach? And is there anything being done to make sure that people who need this are actually getting it?

Mayor: I want Maria to tell you how she found it, and then we’ll talk about the overall vision. So, how did you find out that there was help available to you?

Maria: The best way to find help is – there are organizations. Everywhere in the Bronx, there’s places that’s called BronxWorks. It’s an office. You go in there, and you talk to them, and they refer you to the appropriate –

Mayor: And how did you find that?

Maria: I found it out because I went to her office.

Mayor: How did you find her?

Maria: Through a friend of mine. She says go to that office because they helped me, and they’re going to help you.

Mayor: Word-of-mouth –

Maria: Yep, through word-of-mouth. The people, you know, this is a big place but everybody has a blabbering mouth.

[Laughter]

But I found her and I spoke to her, and she referred me to Legal Aid, and that was how I was able to solve my problem. Otherwise, I would have been homeless.

[Laughter]

Mayor: You’re not going to be, that’s the good news.

Maria: No, I can’t afford that because –

Mayor: You’re safe now thanks to these good folks. So, I think the answer to the question is – it’s a combination of things. We are putting the word out everywhere – that simple, call 3-1-1. And a lot of people are taking us up on that. And 3-1-1 connects them to the legal support.

The elected officials have done an outstanding job. I thought Assembly member Joyner’s explanation of what it means to have it in her Assembly district office, is a great, great example and I really appreciated what you said – that what it means to people to be able to get that kind of support. People feel alone and like they don’t have support, and they’re right on the road to eviction, and nothing’s going to stop it. And then they find people actually will help and can turn the whole situation around. So, the elected officials have been a big part of it. And we’re trying to, everywhere we can, get this kind of outreach. Like I said, the Tenant Support Unit, literally, knocks on doors in areas where they know that there’s lot of potential evictions to let people know. And they talk to a lot of tenants but word spreads, as Maria said, very quickly.

Maria: Yea.

Mayor: And where I go – a lot of places I go, I say to people, if you know anyone who’s threatened with eviction in your family, your friend, anybody, have them call 3-1-1.

Maria: First of all, I thought this [inaudible] were only for people that were on public assistance. And I said, I don’t qualify because I live on social security [inaudible]. And we both paid or rent with what we get monthly. So, I didn’t I qualified until she told me – you qualify also –

Mayor: Well, that’s what we said earlier, also. A lot of people are threatened with eviction and don’t even know that’s there’s other benefits that would give them the resources to avoid evictions. So, that’s why it’s so important that if anyone feels they’re in danger of eviction that they contact us so we can find a way to help.

Anything else on this topic? Going on this topic? Last call. Going once, going twice. Okay, off-topic – David.

Question: [Inaudible] we, along with the New York Post, have received some emails between your administration and James Capalino – and these emails show that the lobbyist directly emailed you from time to time, asking for things –

Mayor: He used to.

Question: He used to. Well, that gets to my question. Is that normal to have a lobbyist have that kind of access to City Hall – one. Two – do you still talk to him? And three – you had a meeting with a man called John [inaudible] or Wang Jianlin. He’s very big, famous Chinese man. Do you remember when you talked about [inaudible]?

Mayor: Yea – no, we didn’t talk about anything involving any specific development. I remember – it was mainly him talking about his movie theater empire which is quite impressive.

But – no, I have not been in touch with Mr. Capalino. You know, he – going into the mayoralty – was someone that I respected and was a friend, someone I talked to a lot over the years. But I do not have contact with him anymore.

Question: Why?

Question: Do other lobbyists have that kind of contact with City Hall?

Mayor: I think – again, I can’t speak to every relationship every lobbyist has. I just don’t have enough of a vision of that but I think it’s fair to say that there are plenty of lobbyists doing legitimate business, representing clients who need to work with City Hall, and we try to treat everyone fairly. But that kind of situation doesn’t exist.

Question: [Inaudible] lobbyist that [inaudible].

Mayor: I’m not going to give you a list of names. I’m saying it’s a normal function that some companies turn to people to help them to work through, you know, the process of government in an appropriate way. But the point is – to the question you’re asking – there was a real friendship there but at this point I’m not in contact with him.

Question: Why aren’t you in contact with him now? What made you –

Mayor: Because of the atmosphere we’re in, and the ongoing investigations.

Mayor: A while back. I can’t give you an exact date. But a while back.

Question: Could we later follow-up with Eric or somebody to find out when that was?

Mayor: Sure.

Question: Mr. Mayor, the latest Wi-Fi kiosk became available today. A lot of people say they like the free access to internet but there have been some complaints that people have been hogging them, streaming movies, and not giving access to other people. Is this an issue that you heard about and do you have a solution?

Mayor: Well, first of all no good deed goes unpunished. The whole idea here was to take phone booths that were outmoded and create in the same space something on very favorable terms for the city that would allow people internet access.  And what you said, I appreciate the framing of your question because there are a lot of people who have gotten free internet access and appreciate that they will get information more easily. So it is a good idea.

We are aware of the fact that there are some people who don’t treat it properly so we are trying to enforce as best that can. It’s something that we have to do more work on, it’s the honest truth. But I think as we continue to develop it, we will be able to create a better environment that will help make sure that people do not hog it. And the bottom line is, I’m sure people who are waiting in line are making their voices heard too. And New Yorkers are pretty vocal.

Question: Anthony Weiner – the photo with his son. Your thoughts on it?

Mayor: I’m not a lawyer – I don’t know. I think the whole think is incredibly sad and I feel for them. And I particularly feel for Huma.

Question: Do you think ACS should investigate this?

Mayor: I don’t speak to what ACS should or shouldn’t do and obviously if they make any decision that would be a confidential matter.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I think that’s not going to happen.

Question: He’s flirted with another run for Mayor, do you think this disqualifies him from another run?

Mayor: I think that he is someone who should address his issues and not worry about public office.

Question: Amid these various investigations, have you or your office changed your policies on how you deal with lobbyists or changed how you see and how you treat lobbyists?

Mayor: Sure. I have.  

Question: How?

Mayor: I just have very, very, very little contact with lobbyists.

Question: [Inaudible] city-elected officials that use their position to get out of a ticket.

Mayor: I understand what you’re asking about, I don’t know the details and I don’t think it’s good to conjecture. I think there are plenty of situations where people are trying to handle things appropriately and sometimes it gets blown out of proportion. I think every one of us believes and I think that council member believes that we all—it’s our job to follow the law and I think people do that and I think she has done that.

Question: Have you ever used your power to get out of a ticket?

Mayor: No, I have not.

Question: A police officer was almost shot and killed with her own gun when a patient she was watching grabbed it while he was unhandcuffed to go to the bathroom – and another patient intervened and saved her life. Do you think that the policy for watching patients who are under medical care and prisoners should be looked at and [inaudible] are you thankful that someone intervened?   

Mayor: I’m very thankful someone intervened, and look, NYPD is – I think very, very careful when it comes to the subject of dealing with prisoners. They look at every situation, so I’m sure they’re evaluating to see if there’s anything that needs to be done. Thank God the officer is safe and we – as you know – do a lot in terms of training, in terms of equipment to make sure officers are safe. That incident will be looked at to see if there’s anything we can to learn.

Question: The man who saved her life – do you think he should get an official commendation or anything?

Mayor: I don’t know all the details, but presuming it’s as you say – sure, of course. We want to thank anyone who comes in support of our officers.

In the back, I saw a hand. Yes?

Question: Just going back to the lobbying question, you said you changed your policy. You’re having less interaction with lobbyists. Do you think that having – the interactions you’ve had with lobbyists in the past were inappropriate?

Mayor: Of course not. I think everything was appropriate, but again I – we’re in a particular atmosphere. I understand that people are looking at that. I think it’s just smarter not to. Look, the whole – what I’ve said from day one I’ll repeat it, maybe the 100th time but I’m happy to repeat it – we are a very, very careful, scrupulous group of people. We are very careful about everything we do, and we’ve had conversations – I’ve had conversations with lobbyists – it doesn’t mean they’re going to get what they want. We’re very clear about that. It doesn’t matter if someone’s a friend. It doesn’t matter if someone’s a supporter. That does not guarantee them anything. That’s how we’ve comported ourselves throughout, and I will note in all the coverage since no one has presented anything to the contrary. But I think in this atmosphere it’s absolutely sensible to have next to nothing to do with them. Thank you very much.

Question: Could you address the issue of the Section-50 change – NYPD has suddenly pulled those disciplinary –

Mayor: I don’t know all the details. My understanding is that in terms of some of the information they used to post – promotions, transfers – that’s all going to continue, but on the specific disciplinary pieces that the state law precludes that disclosure, so we obviously have to honor state law in that case.

Question: So you’re going to honor that whenever the disciplinary proceedings are concluded?

Mayor: We have to honor State law.

Question: For Officer Pantaleo –

Mayor: Again, we have to honor State law. It’s a simple answer. We have to honor State law. Thanks every – Rich, go ahead.

Question: You were in Queens last night at the U.S. Open, but you were the recipient of some [inaudible] cheers.

Mayor: Yes, Rich, I was the first elected official ever to be booed at a sporting event. It was an amazing experience.

Question: How are you going to win over these tennis fans? What do you think is going on?

[Laughter]

Mayor: I think it is part of the enjoyment of an athletic event that if you’re lucky enough there’s an elected official there and you get to boo them. I was happy to oblige. Thanks, everyone.

[Laughter]