Deaf/Disabled Elderly Woman Faces Eviction

Online, February 21, 2013 (Newswire.com) - New York City Housing Authority's Section 8 program denies 72-year- old disabled woman reinstatement of rent subsidy after improper termination. Tenant, Carleen Paulicelli received assistance from the Housing Authority for over 20 years and now faces eviction due to the program's termination of her services and their failure to recognize her mental and physical disability. Over the years, NYCHA was repeatedly informed by her guardian ad litem (a guardian appointed by the court to represent the interests of incompetent persons in legal actions) and others that Mrs. Paulicelli's is deaf, non-verbal and has trouble reading and writing; however, they refused to take this notification in consideration to reevaluate her case.

The rights of residents with mental disabilities in public housing have been addressed in Federal Court with cases such as Blatch v. Franco (360 F. Supp. 2d 595) in which the Housing Authority was found to have practices that deprive the rights of disabled tenants and was also found to violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In response to the 2005 lawsuit, NYCHA agreed to establish procedures to avoid situations that could lead to eviction in NYCHA owned housing however, continue to ignore the rights of the tenants in the Section 8 program they administer who live in other locations, leaving people like Mrs. Paulicelli with no assistance.

Mrs. Paulicelli, the mentally disabled widow lived in her home for 26 years with her husband. After his death in 1997, Mrs. Paulicelli received assistance from her sister-in-law to complete her recertification documents unfortunately being of a certain age, the sister-in-law was no longer able to provide such assistance.

According to Paulicelli's Guardian Ad Litem, Brooklyn, NY landlord-tenant attorney, Jeffrey L. Saltiel, "The Section 8 program has failed Mrs. Paulicelli, a woman of her age who doesn't have any children or family to assist and who relied on this system to provide assistance. Our several attempts to assist Mrs. Paulicelli with recertification for Section 8 have been denied by their staff and supervisors and will unfortunately leave her with no place to call home. We just would like NYCHA do what is right and proper by abiding by their procedures to assist people like Mrs. Paulicelli."