ABOUT US
Housing Court Answers, a service of the City-Wide Task Force on Housing Court, has been the best place to go for information about Housing Court for people without lawyers for close to thirty years. We are the major voice in reforming the housing court. Over the years, we have fought to reform the tenant screening process (known as the blacklist), establish a right to counsel and require the courts to post basic rights and responsibilities.

WHAT WE DO:
Housing Court Answers provides Information Tables in the city’s seven Housing Courts and we staff a hotline for callers with information about housing law, rent arrears assistance, and homeless prevention guidance. We also conduct trainings for community groups, unions, elected officials and others on Housing Court procedures, eviction prevent programs and housing law. And, last but most important, we fight every day for the rights of unrepresented people in Housing Court.

HISTORY
Housing Court Answers started in 1981 when a group of concerned people, who worked for community based groups and legal service providers, started two task forces to help tenants without lawyers in the Bronx and Brooklyn Housing Courts. They got permission from the courts to set up card tables in the lobbies, and started providing information to all pro se litigants (see fighting for justice below), tenant or landlord. They gave out fact sheets and information to people and worked with court personnel to expand services to poor people. Through advocacy campaigns and research, Housing Court Answers convinced the court system to make access to justice for pro se litigants a priority. The organization conducted a comprehensive study of Housing Court, called Five Minute Justice, in 1986 showing that the average case involving an unrepresented tenant was dealt with in about five minutes. Understanding that this was devastating for the thousands of tenants whose homes were at stake, the organization worked with others to file a class action lawsuit (Donaldson vs. the State of New York) to try and win the right to counsel for poor people in Housing Court. A study done in conjunction with the suit confirmed the tremendous imbalance – 88% of tenants in Housing Court could not afford attorneys while 97% of landlords were represented by counsel. The study also showed that 66% of tenants were eligible for free legal assistance but most were unable to get it because of a lack of funding for legal providers.

Today the staff of Housing Court Answers works with pro se litigants – tenants and landlords – who arrive at Housing Court without attorneys, unable to afford them, and confused by the procedures. Our Information Table staff and our Hotline Specialists collaborate with community groups, legal services providers, eviction prevention specialists, academicians, and elected officials to further the goal of justice in Housing Court as a means to reducing homelessness in New York City.

FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE
Pro se litigants: by now, you have figured out what this term means. Pro se is a Latin term that means “for himself” so these are men and women without attorneys to speak for them. Litigant is also from Latin and it means a person involved in a court case. This is one of the MANY legal and foreign language terms used in court to confuse people without lawyers. A lawyer’s job is to win a case for his or her client. Lawyers who are representing a landlord or tenant in a case are not trying to be fair, helpful or impartial - they are trying to WIN. So they benefit when you can’t understand the terms they use. And, in some ways, so does the court. If you don’t understand and don’t object, the court can move things along more smoothly (not so helpful for you, if you don’t have a lawyer).

STAFF
Executive Director — Louise Seeley, Esq.
Assistant Director — Jenny Laurie
Secretary — Tianjiao Yu
Advocacy and Information Coordinator: Brendan Enright

Housing Court Supervisor: Maria Muentes

Borough Coordinators -

Bronx: Jessica Hurd
Brooklyn: Norma Aviles
Manhattan: Gina Cuevas
Queens: Carl Peterson
Staten Island: Mahkeddah Thompson

Borough Assistants -

Diana Bonilla
Fatoma Djabakatié
Philip Dureza
Bethany Hartzell
Frank Omier
Kayla Schwarz
Susan Slocum 
Nury Vasconcellos 
Višnja Vujica

Hotline Specialists -

Emilia Santana
Josiris Ureña

BOARD OF DIRECTORS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President — Larry Wood,
Goddard-Riverside Family Council

Vice-President — Judith Goldiner,
Legal Aid Society

Treasurer — Michael Williams,
The Door

Secretary — Adriene Holder,
Legal Aid Society

BOARD OF DIRECTORS, GENERAL MEMBERS

Marianne Brennick, Community Health Action of S.I.
Anderson Fils-Aimé, Neighbors Together
Ted Finkelstein, NYC Commission on Human Rights
Megan Fogarty, Bronx Works 
Cathy Grad, Grad & Weinraub
Jennifer Levy, South Brooklyn Legal Services
Richard Munroe, Seaman's Society for Children and Families
Lucy Newman, The Legal Aid Society
Marilyn Sotomayor, Queens Community House
Jennifer Vallone, University Settlement