Int. No. 1529-A
By Council Members Levine, Gibson, Rosenthal, Adams, Chin, Cornegy, Ayala, Powers, Reynoso, Levin, Rivera, Menchaca, Brannan, Ampry-Samuel, Lander, Rose, Perkins, Grodenchik, Van Bramer, Moya, Salamanca, Koslowitz, Rodriguez, Louis, Kallos, Cumbo, Eugene, Treyger, Maisel, Cabrera, Dinowitz, Koo, Gennaro, Barron and the Public Advocate (Mr. Williams)
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the office of the civil justice coordinator to work with community groups in educating tenants about their rights in housing court
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Section 26-1304 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision c to read as follows:
c. No later than December 1, 2022, and every December 1 thereafter, the coordinator shall submit to the speaker of the council, and post online, a report on community engagement and education conducted pursuant to section 26-1306 in the previous year. The report shall include metrics from designated community groups, including but not limited to the number of buildings in which outreach was conducted, the number of know your rights education sessions held, the number of attendees at those education sessions, the number of people referred to nonprofits and the number of community forums conducted.
§ 2. Chapter 13 of title 26 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 26-1306 to read as follows:
§ 26-1306 Community engagement. a. For purposes of this section, the term “designated community group” means a not-for-profit organization that has the capacity to conduct tenant outreach, engagement, education and information provision, as determined by the civil justice coordinator.
b. Subject to appropriation, the coordinator shall work with designated community groups to make efforts to educate and inform tenants about their rights in housing court, including but not limited to holding know your rights education sessions, distributing written information to tenants and facilitating referrals of tenants to designated community groups. Such education and information shall be available in any designated citywide language as defined in section 23-1101.
§ 3. This local law takes effect 180 days after it becomes law.
MKW/ACK
LS #7276
4/21/2021 7:26pm