THE PUBLIC ADVOCATE
FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Letitia James

POLICY REPORT:
HOUSING FOR WHOM?
How Debt, Liabilities and
Past Evictions May Affect
Who Moves In
An analysis of the HPD tenant selection criteria
for housing lottery eligibility

New York City Public Advocate
Letitia James

May 2017

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

4

INTRODUCTION 

6

NYC’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS 

7

HPD/HDC TENANT SELECTION CRITERIA SHORTCOMINGS 

8

DEBT, DELINQUENCIES, PRIOR EVICTIONS AND BANKRUPTCIES MAY STILL
DISQUALIFY LOW INCOME AND HOMELESS APPLICANTS – DESPITE ABILITY
TO PAY RENT 

8

TABLE 1: COMMUNITY CREDIT, INCLUSION 2015 Q4 

9

TABLE 2: AVERAGE CREDIT SCORES IN NEW YORK CITY BY
NEIGHBORHOODS 

10

FIGURE 1: CREDIT INCLUSION IN NYC BY INCOME, 2014 

11

FIGURE 2: CREDIT INCLUSION IN NYC BY BOROUGH, 2014 

11

ALL DEVELOPERS PARTICIPATING IN THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PLAN SHOULD
BE REQUIRED TO PARTNER WITH A NOT-FOR-PROFIT TO ASSIST WITH THE
LOTTERY PROCESS AND TO HELP APPLICANTS

13

RECOMMENDATIONS 

14

CONCLUSION 

16

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

16

ENDNOTES 

17

         

 How Debt, Liabilities and Past Evictions May Affect Who Moves In

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
With income inequality growing and the homeless
population at record levels, we must ensure that all
New Yorkers–especially families with children, those
experiencing homelessness and the elderly–have access
to safe and stable housing. Yet even under Mayor Bill
de Blasio’s plan to build and preserve 200,000 affordable
housing units, many low-income residents in proposed
rezoned areas fear that they will be shut out.
Due to unemployment, low wages, no health coverage,
and medical debt, many low-income people and
people of color tend to have no credit history or low
credit scores, debt, and rent and other delinquencies.
In New York City’s low-income neighborhoods–where
many of the new affordable housing units will be
located–43 percent of adults are uncredited, compared
to 15 percent of adults in high-income neighborhoods.1
According to a 2012 national survey, African American
and Latino households are more likely to report worse
credit than white households, with over a third of
African American households and 20 percent of Latino
households having poor credit.2 Many city residents
also have accumulated debt including credit card debt
and rent delinquencies—15.4 percent of individuals in
New York City were 90 or more days late in repaying
their loans and/or had a third party collections balance.3
Nearly 30,000 bankruptcies were filed across New York
State in 2015.4

4

People interested in the affordable housing posted on
the NYC Housing Connect website must enter a lottery.
In the 2016 fiscal year (as of May 2016), officials listed
2,628 affordable units to be given out through a lottery
on the Housing Connect website—and drawn 2,542,508
applications. That averages out to nearly 1,000 signups
for every apartment.5 Although developers are given a
great deal of leeway in establishing the rules for these
lotteries, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation
and Development (HPD) ultimately has oversight over
each operation. Specifically, HPD’s Tenant Selection
Criteria provide guidelines to developers about what

metrics they may use in evaluating lottery applicants.
While HPD’s new criteria is a good first step, they do
not go far enough in increasing access for people with
poor credit ratings, negative financial history and debt,
especially for homeless individuals. In a city with a
general vacancy rate of 3.45 percent, and with a vacancy
rate of 1.8 percent for units renting for below $800, we
want to ensure that those who need affordable housing
the most–and who often have bad credit, debt and
delinquencies–can benefit from any new subsidized
housing initiatives.
Specifically, we recommend that:
For Referrals for Homeless Individuals, HPD Should
Ban the Use of All Credit Reports and Credit Scores,
Eviction, Debt and Delinquencies, as Criteria for All
City-Owned and City-Subsidized Affordable Units.
Job loss, domestic violence, and evictions are three of the
primary causes of homelessness6. Thus many homeless
individuals will have fallen into debt, which negatively
impacted their credit. The City’s goal should be to help
these individuals and families get back on their feet by
providing stable and affordable housing, not adopting
strict criteria which will shut out many of the homeless.
HPD Should Modify its Tenant Selection Criteria.
Developers should be required to use one year’s worth
of on-time rental payments as evidence of a positive
rental history; allow tenants to use qualified guarantors
for rent; and weigh guaranteed income, such as Social
Security Disability (SSD), more strongly than past debt.
HPD Should Increase the Transparency of the Lottery
Process. HPD should submit annual reports that will
provide information on the number of people who
were accepted and rejected by the lottery, the number
of appeals made, the outcomes of the appeals and the
reasons for their rejection, as well as demographic data.
Developers should also be required to partner with
city-registered and qualified not-for-profit housing

 OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE LETITIA JAMES

organizations to help conduct outreach, marketing, and
assist prospective renters with the application process,
including the financial criteria.

5

 How Debt, Liabilities and Past Evictions May Affect Who Moves In

INTRODUCTION
Mayor de Blasio’s affordable housing plan will build
80,000 new units and preserve 120,000 units, an
unprecedented level of affordable housing. As the City’s
affordable housing lotteries are the key mechanism to
match prospective tenants to available units, the NYC
Housing and Preservation Department’s (HPD) Tenant
Selection Criteria governing these lotteries will take
on unprecedented importance. With many of the city’s
poorest communities being rezoned to accommodate
these affordable units, we need to ensure that the
Tenant Selection Criteria do not make it unnecessarily
difficult for those who need this housing the most to
qualify for it. The entire selection process must become
as transparent and fair as possible.
Under previous administrations, one of the factors
that made the lottery system unnecessarily restrictive
was an overemphasis on consumer credit scores. In
2014, Public Advocate James sent a letter to then-HPD
Commissioner Vicki Been laying out a five-point
policy strategy focused on improving access for those
with poor credit to ensure clarity and transparency at
the various stages of the application process.

6

In October 2015, HPD released its HPD/HDC
(Housing and Preservation Department/Housing
Development Corporation) Tenant Selection Criteria,
that HPD stated was “the most stringent criteria
permitted,” which provide developers with guidelines
and rules to determine eligibility for the affordable
housing lottery.7 To its credit, HPD included the Public
Advocate’s concern regarding use of credit scores. The
new HPD rules instruct developers not to use credit
scores as the sole criterion for evaluating potential
tenants. Additionally, HPD’s new timeline of two years
or less for considering bankruptcy proceedings for
non-homeless individuals and families is good policy.
However, HPD’s directives still do not fully address
the realities of being a low-income or homeless New
Yorker struggling to find housing, and they allow
developers too much discretion, which may result in

unfair denials for some tenants.
Poor credit, no credit, indebtedness and delinquencies
can negatively impact every aspect of life. Since the
passage of the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 and
implementation of FICO scores in 1989, credit scores
and other tracking data have “been used to determine
risk-based pricing premiums for credit, insurance,
and utilities and to predict behavior or character
for screening potential tenants and employees.”8
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimates
that nearly one in three adults in New York City
are “uncredited,” meaning they do not have active
credit accounts such as auto loans, credit cards, and
mortgages.9 This means that when income fluctuates
or an unplanned expense or emergency arises, these
individuals do not have access to a line of credit to
cover bills, including rent. Furthermore, about 12
percent of adults in New York City who have active
credit are still delinquent on one or more accounts.10
In the Bronx, 32 percent of residents are not on time
payers.11
As the de Blasio administration works to build and
preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing over the
next decade, the administration must further broaden
HPD’s Tenant Selection Criteria to ensure that New
Yorkers with debt, delinquencies, prior evictions,
and bankruptcies–and who often are most at risk of
homelessness–have access to safe and stable housing
opportunities.

 OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE LETITIA JAMES

NYC’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS
New York City is facing a crisis when it comes to
available affordable housing. Currently, the City’s
vacancy rate is 3.45 percent. The vacancy rate for
apartments at $800 or less was 1.8 percent in 2014 so
there is a 2% chance of getting one of these coveted
units.12 With this shortage of housing–particularly for
low-income New Yorkers–newly affordable apartments
coming into the market are in high demand.
In the 2016 fiscal year (as of May 2016), officials
listed 2,628 affordable units to be given out through a
lottery on the Housing Connect website—and drawn
2,542,508 applications. That averages out to nearly
1,000 signups for every apartment.13 New York City’s
homeless shelter population is the largest it has ever
been and the main driver of the homeless crisis is the
City’s high housing costs compared to income.
A housing lottery winner has a rare chance to obtain
this affordable housing, and should be given a fair
chance at obtaining it. With the great challenge that
demand far exceeds supply, the City must ensure that
those who need affordable housing–but who often
have bad credit, debt and delinquencies–can still
benefit from new or existing subsidized housing by
showing they have the means to make rental payments.

7

 How Debt, Liabilities and Past Evictions May Affect Who Moves In

HPD/HDC TENANT SELECTION CRITERIA
SHORTCOMINGS
HPD’s/HDC's 2015 revised Tenant Selection Criteria
are designed to streamline the process of helping
developers find tenants, while ensuring that more
tenants will be eligible for this affordable housing.
Most importantly, developers are not permitted to
reject prospective tenants solely on the basis of bad
credit. If a candidate has a FICO credit rating score
below 580 (or 500 for homeless referrals), they must
fail to meet at least one other criterion listed in the
guidelines to be denied an apartment.
However, while the new standards give greater access
to housing for people with negative economic factors,
shortcomings remain in the tenant selection process.
The new Tenant Selection Criteria are14 :

8

•  For non-homeless referrals, applicants can be
rejected if they had a prior for-cause eviction
(provided that a warrant of eviction was executed
upon within the last four years and the tenant
was never restored to possession) or if they have a
history of multiple landlord-tenant actions within
the last four years, provided that the actions were
commenced by the landlord and resulted in a
judgment of possession.
•  For homeless referrals, applicants can be rejected
for multiple prior for-cause evictions, provided that
two or more warrants of eviction were executed
upon within the last four years and the tenant was
never restored to possession. Applicants may also
be rejected for a history of multiple landlord-tenant
actions within the last four years, provided that the
actions were commenced by the landlord and two
or more of the actions resulted in judgments of
possession.
•  Applicants’ gross rent and monthly minimum
credit card and loan debt may not exceed half of
their monthly incomes (60% if the debt includes

• 

• 

• 

• 

medical bills).
Applicants may be rejected for total outstanding
debt (excluding rent) per household exceeding 25%
of the household’s annual gross income (30% if
debt includes significant medical-related bill).
Applicants can be rejected if they filed for
bankruptcy less than two years ago. For shelter
referrals, the bankruptcy should not result in
rejection if the applicant can document compliance
with any and all terms of the bankruptcy order and
can document participation in a credit repair or
financial recovery program.
Applicants cannot have more than $3,000 in
unsatisfied liens and money judgments and the
applicant can document participation in a credit
repair or financial recovery program.
Applicants may be rejected based on rent
delinquencies for which there is not an acceptable
mitigating justification, if the delinquencies are
(a) currently open or (b) if there is a history or
pattern of rent delinquencies being a repetitive,
chronic issue. Developers may reject an applicant
for other, nonrent delinquencies only if the current
outstanding amount exceeds $500.

Debt, Delinquencies, Prior Evictions and
Bankruptcies May Still Disqualify Low
Income and Homeless Applicants – Despite
Ability to Pay
With Mayor de Blasio’s plan to build and preserve
200,000 affordable housing units, many low-income
and homeless residents in proposed rezoned
neighborhoods may not be eligible to participate
in this housing boom because they have debt,
delinquencies, prior evictions or bankruptcies.

 OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE LETITIA JAMES

In addition, a significant number of residents have
faced evictions. In 2015, there were 203,119 rent nonpayment petitions filed in New York City Housing
Court and 111,666 eviction warrants were issued
citywide.17 In 2015, there were 21,988 marshals’
evictions.18






 





  

  



  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  



  

  



  

  



Furthermore, it is the poorest New Yorkers who exist
on judgment-proof income and are therefore most in
need of affordable housing. Barring applicants who
receive these types of income, and who also have debt,
will disproportionately affect those seeking to exit the
shelter system and perpetuate the City’s homelessness
crisis without accurately predicting which applicants
will be able to pay rent. This type of arbitrary exclusion
is precisely what is meant to be prohibited by our City’s
Human Rights Laws prohibiting discrimination.

Many of the neighborhoods targeted for major
rezoning are lower-income communities, where
residents have traditionally been excluded from the
credit market. Forty-three percent of adults in New
York City’s low-income neighborhoods are uncredited
compared to 15 percent of adults in high-income
neighborhoods.20 Residents in the Bronx are
significantly more likely to be uncredited (32 percent)
compared to residents in Staten Island (12 percent)
and Manhattan (19 percent).21 (See Table 1)



Using debt to disqualify applicants who receive an
income that cannot be collected by way of a money
judgment also disqualifies the neediest applicants
without any logical basis, and might run afoul of City
laws prohibiting source of income discrimination in
housing. Certain types of income, such as needs-based
disability income received from the Social Security
Administration and public assistance, cannot be
collected as debt in a court proceeding and cannot be
garnished to collect a money judgment. Consequently,
for applicants who receive a judgment-proof income,
the existence of debt does not correlate to their ability
to pay rent in the future.

Not surprisingly, financial difficulties are leading
factors causing homelessness. According to the
Coalition for the Homeless, the major immediate,
triggering causes of homelessness are: eviction;
doubled-up or severely overcrowded housing;
domestic violence; job loss; and hazardous housing
conditions.19 Unfortunately, the HPD housing lottery
regulations can perpetuate homelessness by denying
these individuals access to affordable housing.



Many city residents have accumulated debt including
credit card debt and rent delinquencies—15.4% of
individuals in New York City were 90 or more days
late in repaying their loans and/or had a third party
collections balance.15 Nearly 30,000 bankruptcies were
filed across New York State in 2015.16





 










Source: www.nyfed.org/communitycredit & New York Fed Credit Panel/ Equifax

9

 How Debt, Liabilities and Past Evictions May Affect Who Moves In

A 2010 report by the Woodstock Institute found
significant disparities in credit scores by race in
New York City. Nearly 39 percent of people living in
predominantly African American communities had
credit scores below 620, compared to 34 percent of
those living in predominantly Latino communities and
only 13 percent of those living in predominantly white
communities.22 In African American communities,
28 percent of individuals had credits scores of 580
or below, which is rated as poor credit.23 In contrast,
nearly 60 percent of New Yorkers in predominantly
white neighborhoods had credit scores of 740 or
above.24 (See Table 2 for neighborhood level scores)
National survey data from Demos also showed that
low-income people, and people of color, have lower
average credit scores than the general population.
They attribute this to unemployment, lack of health

coverage and medical debt.25
Poor credit, no credit, indebtedness and delinquencies
can negatively impact every aspect of life. Credit scores
and other tracking data have “been used to determine
risk-based pricing premiums for credit, insurance,
and utilities and to predict behavior or character
for screening potential tenants and employees.”26
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimates
that nearly one in three adults in New York City
are “uncredited,” meaning they do not have active
credit accounts such as auto loans, credit cards, and
mortgages.27 (See Figure 1 and 2 for Credit Inclusion
by Income and by Borough). This means that when
income fluctuates or an unplanned expense or
emergency arises, these individuals do not have access
to a line of credit to cover bills, including rent.

Table 2: Average Credit Scores in New York City by Neighborhoods 28
 




 29









30



Bad Credit:
below 600
Poor Credit:
600649
Fair Credit:
650699
Good Credit:
700749
Excellent






CB4 = $26,086
CB5 = $24,841




$30,736









10

CB5 = $34,146
CB16 = $28,139


≤$20,000 = 40%
$20,001– $40,000 = 25%
$40,001– $60,000 = 18%


≤$20,000 =42%
$20,001– $40,000 = 26%
$40,001– $60,000 = 15%
≤$20,000 = 34%
$20,001– $40,000 = 23%
$40,001– $60,000 = 14%

CB4 = 623
CB5 = 625

 ≤$20,000 = 28%
$20,001– $40,000 = 25%
$40,001– $60,000 = 17%

CB5 = 628
CB16 = 625

639


≤$20,000 = 36%
$20,001– $40,000 = 24%
$40,001– $60,000 = 15%





$58,742

≤$20,000 = 18%
$20,001– $40,000 = 17%
$40,001– $60,000 = 16%

707







$95,212

≤$20,000 = 10%
$20,001– $40,000 = 8%
$40,001– 60,000 = 11%
≤$20,000 = 7%
$20,001– $40,000 = 10%
$40,001– 60,000 = 10%

731

$105,986

749

Credit: 750+

 OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE LETITIA JAMES


100%

percent ofAdults(18+)

90%
80%

42%

70%

53%

63%

60%
50%

15%
13%

40%

13%

30%
20%

43%

10%
0%

77%

LowIncome

34%

Moderate
Income

Non-Participant("Uncredited")

24%

8%
15%

MiddleIncome UpperIncome
ParticipantNon-Builder

CreditBuilder









100%

percent ofAdults(18+)

90%
80%
70%
60%

68%

66%

62%

54%

50%

15%
12%

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

44%

13%
19%
Staten  Island

9%

12%

25%

27%

Manhattan

Queens

Non-Participant("Uncredited")

35%

Brooklyn

ParticipantNon-Builder

41%

Bronx
CreditBuilder










11

11

 How Debt, Liabilities and Past Evictions May Affect Who Moves In

Under the revised Tenant Selection Criteria, previous
evictions, debt (that totals more than $500 or
unsatisfied liens and court judgments for more than
$3,000), delinquencies (outstanding or a history of rent
delinquencies) or bankruptcies less than two years old,
can be used as a factor counted against most who enter
housing lotteries.33 In a City with a vacancy rate of 1.8
percent for units renting for below $800, and so many
who have no access to credit, have debt, delinquencies
or bankruptcies, we need to ensure that those who
need affordable housing can benefit from subsidized
housing initiatives, particularly the homeless who need
it the most.
Many low-income households face credit and past
financial struggles. Nevertheless, many are able to pay
a rent that is affordable. These individuals should be
able to use alternative reasonable criteria to show their
ability to pay rent regularly, such as: using one year’s
worth of on-time rental payments as evidence of a
positive rental history; using qualified guarantors; and
weighing guaranteed income, such as Social Security
Disability (SSD), more strongly than past debt.
HPD’s/HDC’s Tenant Selection Criteria risks leaving
behind many low-income New Yorkers and people of
color. With growing income inequality and with the
homeless population at record levels, it is imperative
that all New Yorkers have access to safe and stable
housing.

12

 OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE LETITIA JAMES

All Developers Participating in the
Affordable Housing Plan should be
required to Partner with a Not-for-Profit
to assist with the Lottery Process and to
Help Applicants
Currently, affordable housing developers are required
to send community contact letters to organizations
simultaneous with the advertisement’s publication
on Housing Connect. Prior to advertising, as part of
each project’s Marketing Plan, the developer submits
to HPD/HDC the specific organizations to which it
will reach out. They also must initiate contact with
organizations servicing people with disabilities to
publicize the lottery, and put in place specific efforts
to reach groups least likely to be represented in the
applicant pool. For projects with 20+ units going
through the lottery, the developers are required to
submit letters and copies of the project advertisement
to the projects’ Community Board and elected officials
as well.34
Developers are not required to work with not-forprofit organizations. However, HPD’s Housing
Ambassadors program partners with communitybased service providers in New York City who, as
part of their everyday work, help people prepare and
apply for affordable housing. HPD provides them with
printed informational materials, regular trainings,
and opportunities to share feedback, questions, and
announcements. HPD states that “this is a largely
volunteer partnership, with some recent support from
the NYC Council to help these organizations build
capacity.”35
HPD added that “Ambassadors, described above, assist
and educate applicants, but they’re not necessarily
doing so for one particular developer or project, and

do not help locate qualified applicants. Qualified
applicants are actually not located by anyone—through
the lottery system, all applications are randomized and
the developer/marketing agent reviews [applications]
in order until the units are filled. This is how we
prevent hand-picking or favoritism and promote
fairness, openness, and accountability.”
HPD states that “although it's not a requirement, many
of [the] projects have non-profits who are helping to
coordinate the marketing and lease up.”36 However, one
well-established not-for-profit that participates in the
Housing Ambassadors program stated that only a few
developers partner with not-for-profit organizations
to conduct marketing or outreach to low-income
individuals and to assist them with the housing lottery
application process. Furthermore, most developers
require housing lottery applicants to go to offices
that are outside the community to complete the
applications.
The City can take steps to ensure that more qualified
local applicants are able to take advantage of affordable
housing that is being built. The City should require
that all developers partner with a not-for-profit to
assist with outreach and marketing to ensure that the
maximum number of community residents know
about the program and assist with the application
process at a local community site to help applicants
address any HPD criteria issues. This can be
accomplished using a fair, open and accountable
process.
13

 How Debt, Liabilities and Past Evictions May Affect Who Moves In

RECOMMENDATIONS
The Office of the Public Advocate makes the following
recommendations to improve access to affordable
housing for New Yorkers most in need:
 
•  For Homeless Referrals, Ban the Use of Debt,
Delinquencies and Bankruptcies, as Criteria for
All City-Owned and City-Subsidized Affordable
Units
With so many families struggling to pay increasing
rents, many families are at high risk of eviction–
one of the leading causes of homelessness among
families in New York City. To ensure that homeless
referral applicants have a fair chance to access
housing, the City should not allow unsatisfied liens
or court judgments, outstanding delinquencies or
past bankruptcies to be factored into its current
HPD/HDC Tenant Selection Criteria for this
vulnerable homeless population.
•  HPD Should Modify its Tenant Selection
Criteria. To its credit, HPD’s new Tenant Selection
Criteria addresses the Public Advocate’s concern
regarding use of credit scores. The new HPD rules
instruct developers not to use credit scores as the
sole criterion for evaluating potential tenants.
However, tenants with debt, delinquencies or a
history of bankruptcy may still be deprived of
affordable housing—even if they have the means
to make rental payments. Therefore, HPD should
make their regulations less punitive by:
ºº Requiring developers to consider evidence
of one year's worth of on-time rental
payments as a positive rental history;
ºº Requiring developers to permit the use of
qualified guarantors for rent; and
ºº Requiring that applicants who are receiving
guaranteed income, such as Social Security
Disability (SSD), and whose income is not
subject to collection, will not have their past
14

debt, evictions, or financial history count
against perceptions of their future ability to
pay.
•  All Developers Participating in the Affordable
Housing Plan Should be required to Partner with
a City Registered and Qualified Not-for-Profit
Housing Organization to assist with the Lottery
Process and to Help Screen Applicants. Currently,
developers are required to list lottery postings
in newspapers, online, and through the City’s
Housing Connect website. They are also required
to partner with a city registered local Community
Board and not-for-profit housing education
organization to conduct affordable housing and
financial empowerment workshops. To ensure that
more qualified local applicants are able to take
advantage of affordable housing that is being built,
the City should require that developers:
ºº Locate leasing offices in the local
community, so that applicants can
reasonably access the site to submit
paperwork, conduct interviews, and ask
questions;
ºº Partner with a city-registered and qualified
not-for-profit housing agency to list and
market the development in ways that
ensure that lottery postings reach the local
community, and that these not-for-profit
agencies also assist with education about
application forms and paperwork, and help
locate qualified applicants. This will help
decrease the number of lottery participants
who are denied, and it will boost the
number of qualified applicants accepted.

 OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE LETITIA JAMES

•  HPD Must Increase the Transparency of the
Lottery Process
HPD should be required to submit annual reports
to the Public Advocate, City Council, and Mayor
that provide information on the number of people
who were accepted and rejected by the lottery,
the number of appeals made, the outcomes of
the appeals, and the reasons for rejection, listed
by each development/developer according to
the City’s current HPD/HDC Tenant Selection
Criteria. Additionally, HPD should include
demographic data of applicants, such as income,
disability, employment status, and family size,
broken down by applicant and development.
Lastly, to increase transparency further, HPD
should submit data on the number of waivers
given to developers related to all preference
categories (community board, disabilities,
municipal employees, etc.).

15

 How Debt, Liabilities and Past Evictions May Affect Who Moves In

CONCLUSION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In 2015, New York City passed one of the strongest
laws in the country to restrict employers’ use of
credit checks as a part of the hiring process.37 The
law assumed that “credit reports were not designed
as an employment screening tool. Instead, they were
developed as a means for lenders to evaluate whether
a would-be borrower would be a good credit risk.”38
Based on a similar policy rationale, the City should
focus its Tenant Selection Criteria on assessing
whether the household has the means to pay rent—not
on the household’s past financial challenges, especially
in light of the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers
negatively impacted by the Great Recession.

New York City Public Advocate Letitia James
acknowledges the contributions of all staff members
that contributed greatly to this policy report: Bich Ha
Pham, Director of Policy, Barbara Sherman, Deputy
Policy Director, Richard Brender, Policy Associate/
Research Assistant, and Hong Van Pham, Policy
Intern.

The ability to access affordable housing in New York
City is one of the most important goals we have to
promote an equitable and thriving city. Barriers to
accessing apartments, such as no access to credit,
evictions, debt, delinquencies and bankruptcies are
impacting many families’ ability to live in affordable
and stable housing. With many of the city’s poorest
communities being rezoned for more affordable units,
HPD’s/HDC's Tenant Selection Criteria should not
make it unnecessarily difficult for the homeless and
others who need this housing the most to qualify—
and the entire selection process should be made as
transparent and fair as possible.

16

 OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE LETITIA JAMES

ENDNOTES
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Community Development Brief: Credit Inclusion in New York City (October 2015).
https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/outreach-and-education/commdevbrief-creditinclusionnyc-october2015.pdf
2
Amy Traub, Discredited: How Employment Checks Keep Qualified Workers Out of a Job, Demos (February 2013). http://www.demos.org/sites/
default/files/publications/Discredited-Demos.pdf
3
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Regional Household Debt and Credit Snapshot 2015, QUARTER 4, NEW YORK CITY (2015). https://www.
newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/regional/regional-hhdc/RHDCSNewYorkCityQ42015.pdf
4
Epiq Systems, Bankruptcy Statistics- State and District (2016). http://www.abi.org/newsroom/bankruptcy-statistics.
5
NYC Council testimony of HPD Commissioner Vicki Been (May 10, 2016). http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/2-5m-people-applied-nyc-2-600affordable-housing-units-article-1.2633482
6
Coalition for the Homeless, “Basic Facts about Homelessness: NYC.” http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/basic-facts-about-homelessness-newyork-city/.
7
New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, “HPD/HDC Tenant Selection Criteria Implemented 10/1/2015.” https://
www1.nyc.gov/assets/hpd/downloads/pdf/developers/hpd-hdc-tenant-selection-criteria-2015-10.pdf
8
Woodstock Institute, “Fact Sheet: Understanding Credit Score Patterns in New York City (2010).” http://www.woodstockinst.org/research/fact-sheetunderstanding-credit-score-patterns-new-york-city
9
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Community Development Brief: Credit Inclusion in New York City (October 2015), op cit.
10
Ibid.
11
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Community Credit : A New Perspective on America's Communities. https://www.newyorkfed.org/data-andstatistics/data-visualization/community-credit-profiles/index.html#inclusion/credit_participation/Pct_Pop_NOT_in_CE
12
New York City Rent Guidelines Board, 2016 Income and Affordability Study, (April 7, 2016), p. 8. http://www.nycrgb.org/downloads/research/
pdf_reports/ia16.pdf
13
NYC Council testimony of HPD Commissioner Vicki Been (May 10, 2016). http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/2-5m-people-applied-nyc-2600-affordable-housing-units-article-1.2633482
14
New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, “HPD/HDC Tenant Selection Criteria,” op cit.
15
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Regional Household Debt and Credit Snapshot 2015, QUARTER 4, NEW YORK CITY (December 2015), op cit.
16
Epiq Systems, op cit.
17
NYC Office of Civil Justice 2016 Annual Report, https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/hra/downloads/pdf/services/civiljustice/OCJ%202016%20Annual%20
Report%20FINAL_08_29_2016.pdf
18
Ibid.
19
Coalition for the Homeless, op cit.
20
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Community Development Brief: Credit Inclusion in New York City (October 2015), op cit.
21
New York Fed Credit Panel/Equifax www.nyfed.org/communitycredit  
22
Woodstock Institute, op cit.
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid. 
25
Traub, op cit.
26
Woodstock Institute, “Fact Sheet: Understanding Credit Score Patterns in New York City (2010).” http://www.woodstockinst.org/research/fact-sheetunderstanding-credit-score-patterns-new-york-city
27
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Community Development Brief: Credit Inclusion in New York City (October 2015), op cit.
28
The first five communities on the chart were selected by the Mayor for major rezoning. The demographic data was drawn from the Community
Board(s) where the hearings for these rezonings were held. Community Board headquarters provided the zip codes used to generate credit score data.
29
NYU Furman Center, State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods in 2014. http://furmancenter.org/files/sotc/NYUFurmanCenter_
SOC2014_HighRes.pdf
30
Equifax, “Scores by Zip Codes.” http://www.equifax.com/cs/Satellite?pagename=ScoresbyZip.
31
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Community Development Brief: Credit Inclusion in New York City (October 2015), op cit.
32
Ibid.
33
HPD/HDC Tenant Selection Criteria, op cit., and Mark D. Levine and Mary Brosnahan,“How To Fight Homelessness,” New York Times, October 19,
2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/19/opinion/how-to-fight-homelessness.html
34
Maggie Carey, Government Affairs, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development [Personal Communication, February 23,
2017].
35
Ibid.
36
Jordan Press, Government Relations Unit, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development [Personal Communication,
February 23, 2017].
37
Jarrett Murphy, “Advocates Hail NYC Credit-Check Ban as Strongest in the U.S.,” City Limits, April 17, 2015. http://citylimits.org/2015/04/17/
advocates-hail-nyc-credit-check-ban-as-strongest-in-the-u-s/
38
Traub, op cit., p.1
1

17

 THE PUBLIC ADVOCATE
FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Letitia James

1 CENTRE STREET
15TH FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10007
WWW.PUBADVOCATE.NYC.GOV
(212) 669 - 7200
FACEBOOK.COM/PALETITIAJAMES
@TISHJAMES

May 2017