I commend you, seriously.

Agencies Join Forces to Aid Older Tenants
By JANELLE NANOS

To reach Dorothy Reid's Brooklyn home last month, a visitor first had to walk past the gutted ground floor, whose boarded-up windows bore a sign reminding residents of police surveillance. Then it was up three flights of stairs, past a door secured by a huge lock and chain, to the two-bedroom apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant where she has lived for 25 years.

"It was really nice when I first moved in here," she said, shaking her head.

Her walls were pockmarked with craters, the ceiling leaked, and she feared that lead paint would sicken her grandchildren. Yet, she said, her complaints to the building's management had gone unanswered. But even worse, Mrs. Reid, 78, said that after several months without hearing from her landlord, she was stunned to receive an eviction notice. Mrs. Reid said she thought she had made all her rent payments, but it turned out that she had fallen behind.

In New York's expensive and competitive housing market, many landlords seeking higher rents have become more aggressive in trying to evict older tenants, taking aim at a vulnerable population without the resources to defend themselves, housing advocates say. People like Mrs. Reid must then make their case in the labyrinthine system that is New York City's Housing Court.

As a result, the city has started a project to help older residents threatened with eviction navigate the legal process.

The Department for the Aging and the New York Civil Court have combined resources, appointing lawyers to represent people in court and assigning social workers to help them get services they need to support themselves. This two-pronged approach, which was started in July in Brooklyn and Manhattan, has provided free help for scores of elderly tenants trying to stay in their homes.