Tahisha is a single mother living in Westchester whose affordable apartment was subsidized by a Section 8 housing voucher. She lost her voucher in 2017, which meant that she was unable to afford her rent. After that, she was either homeless or staying with a friend while she waited for the resolution of her case, and she was unable to hold steady employment because of the instability in her housing. Her children were moved into the custody of her mother and Tahisha came to LSHV for assistance in getting the voucher restored. An LSHV attorney was successful in getting Tahisha’s voucher restored, but the Section 8 voucher administrator moved to terminate her voucher again in 2018, while Tahisha was trying to lease a new apartment. LSHV represented Tahisha at the hearing to challenge the 2018 decision and then passed her case to our Pro Bono partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.
Through LSHV’s Pro Bono Unit, individual attorneys and private law firms volunteer their time to handle cases that LSHV would otherwise be unable to handle. Three Patterson Belknap attorneys represented Tahisha throughout the appeal of the decision that was made at her hearing. The attorneys argued that in addition to not having legal grounds to terminate Tahisha’s voucher, the decision was fundamentally unfair. In December of 2019, they reached a successful settlement with the Section 8 voucher administrator and Tahisha’s voucher was restored. Thanks to LSHV’s representation and our partnership with Patterson Belknap, Tahisha now has stable, affordable housing, and is working on her employment and getting custody of her children restored.
