Housing Court: Botched My Case. Took what was straightforward and made it endlessly complicated. This case was only about money landlord claimed i owed. Recently i was told by them how much better off i am. Im not better off at all. They accomplished nothing. They resolved nothing. I found the attorney to be very difficult to work with. She was arrogant and uninformed. Imho, i believe her to be just not very bright. . I am older, low income and fairly knowledgeable about L & T issues. However i would never represent myself in a case where my home is at stake. I know enough to realise that theres a lot i don't know. Now, they want to withdraw from my case, leaving me in a far more vulnerable position than before. I tried to keep attorney focused on the one issue To be resolved. Yes, there were other issues that i could raise, but they were irrelevant to this case. Against my wishes they brought all these other issues into the case which were not necessary or helpful to me. These issues involved harassment and repairs. This case was only about money landlord claimed i owed. Now, after talking to many people about housing issues, this firm has a very poor reputation. Look elsewhere..
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- EIN 13-2622748
- info@mfy.org
- 212-417-3700
- 299 Broadway New York NY 10007 USA
- http://www.mfy.org
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Adoption, Children & Youth, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Crime & Law, Legal Services
Mission:
MFY’smission is to ensure that no New Yorker is denied access to justice because heor she cannot afford an attorney. Founded in 1963 as part of a largecommunity-based organization, MFY works in concert with neighborhood socialservice providers and community advocates to provide legal assistance—fromadvice to full representation—to low income New Yorkers on housing, publicbenefits, health care, disability rights, employment, consumer rights,foreclosure and family matters. MFY also initiates impact litigation, conductscommunity-based legal education, and promotes policies and programs thataddress the underlying inequities affecting our clients.
Results: In addition to providing individual legal assistance to thousands of New Yorkers, MFY won a major victory in 2010 on behalf of residents with mental illness living in adult homes throughout the city. That case, Disability Advocates v. Paterson, charged that NYS discriminated against people with mental disabilities by segregating them in large adult homes, which are institutional settings, instead of in the community. After 6 years of litigation, the judge ruled in favor of the adult home residents and has ordered NYS to develop 1500 units of supported housing in each of the next three years. That order is being implemented while the state continues its appeal of the decision. Our Consumer Rights Project scored a major victory by developing and advocating for a new city law to rein in abusive process serving practices by the debt collection industry. These abuses were responsible for thousands of people each year receiving default judgments on debt issues because they did not know a case had been filed against them and therefore could not challenge it.
Target demographics: We serve low-income New Yorkers who cannot afford an attorney to handle a civil legal matter. Seventy percent of our clients subsist on some form of public benefits and the rest are low-wage workers or retirees. MFY serves highly vulnerable populations, including people with psychiatric disabilities living in the community and in adult homes, seniors, SRO and three-quarter house residents, and immigrants.
Direct beneficiaries per year: Our work directly benefits over 8,000 people.
Programs:
In New York City, over 300,000children are being raised by grandparents and other relatives because theirparents are unable to care for them. MFY’s KinshipCaregiver Law Project helps to stabilize families, promote children'ssecurity, and prevent children from entering the foster care system. Theproject matches grandparents and other kin caregivers with private attorneysfrom well-established firms who represent caregivers in custody, guardianshipand adoption proceedings.
Inaddition, Project attorneys provide advice and counsel to kin caregivers whocall the Project’s infoline and meet directly with kin caregivers at regularlyheld clinics at family courthouses and community-based organizations.
TheProject offers CLE-certified training to attorneys who are interested inproviding pro bono services to kin caregivers.
Projectstaff advocate for policies and programs to improve the lives of kinshipcaregiving families, working in close collaboration with the New York CityKincare Task Force and the New York State Kincare Coalition.
Low-income Manhattan seniors face daunting challenges in their efforts tolive independently in their own homes. With one in five seniors living at orbelow the federal poverty level and their average income only half of thecounty median, growing numbers of seniors live one crisis away fromhomelessness as they try to make their fixed retirement or disability incomecover the rising costs of housing, utilities, food, medicine andtransportation.
MFY’s Manhattan Seniors Projectprovides a broad range of high quality civil legal services to seniors,prioritizing those at risk of losing their housing and independence. Theproject reaches out to vulnerable seniors in need of help on housing, benefits,health care, consumer, and abuse issues.
MLASP help seniors avoid the pitfalls that prevent them from aging in placeby providing community legal education at senior and community centers,Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs), senior supportive housingfacilities, and adult homes. The project also works closely with social serviceproviders throughout Manhattan to enhance the ability of case managers andsocial workers to provide accurate information to seniors and to make timelyand appropriate referrals to legal services.