Launched in the 1960s, formerly MFY Legal Services. Provides free legal assistance to residents of New York City on a wide range of civil legal issues from its headquarters in lower Manhattan.
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Primary geographic focus: New York
Organization type(s): Provider
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News StoryCity Tackles Roll-Out of Right to Counsel in Housing Court
Abigail Savitch-LewCity Limits
January 17, 2018
n February 2017, after years of tenant advocacy, Mayor de Blasio made the announcement that New York City would become the first city in the nation to invest in universal access to counsel for low-income tenants in housing court.
Column
Wheelchairs Prohibited in the Last Place You’d Expect
Paula SpanNew York Times (NYT)
April 30, 2018
Excerpts from their recorded conversations are included in a federal lawsuit filed against those centers, claiming they discriminate against people in wheelchairs and are violating the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal laws.
Audio , News Story
City’s Free Lawyer Program Ramps Up for Tenants
Beth FertigWNYC (NY)
November 9, 2017
New York is the first place in the nation to guarantee attorneys for low-income tenants in housing court. The U.S. Constitution's right to counsel is only guaranteed in criminal proceedings, not civil ones like in housing court.
News Story
Older Lawyers Pursue Social Justice Through Emeritus Program
Jeff StoreyNew York Law Journal
May 26, 2017
All three are "attorneys emeritus," participants in a program launched seven years ago by then Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman as "a permanent piece of the puzzle" to close the justice gap for low-income New Yorkers.
News Story
New York lawmaker looks to crack down on student loan companies
Jillian BermanMarketWatch
April 28, 2017
Kenneth Zebrowski, a Democratic Assemblyman, introduced legislation to regulate student loan servicers.
News Story
Student loan borrowers share tales of woe with regulators
Jillian BermanMarketWatch
October 27, 2016
Advocates organized the event earlier this week to bring attention to the plight of borrowers like Carter to federal and state regulators.
News Story
HUD mortgage sales harm black neighborhoods, lawsuit says
Jared BennettCenter for Public Integrity
August 17, 2016
New lawsuit follows Center for Public Integrity report on mortgage sales.
News Story
Sale of Federal Mortgages to Investors Puts Greater Burden on Blacks, Suit Says
Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Michael CorkeryNew York Times (NYT)
August 14, 2016
The suit says, the government is fueling racial disparities not through its lending policies but in how it handles foreclosures.
News Story
Airbnb and house-sharing firms reduced New York housing stock by 10% – study
Nicky WoolfGuardian
June 27, 2016
Research by affordable housing advocacy groups finds more than 55% of listings in city on Airbnb are illegal, and 30% are listed by commercial hosts.
News Story
Critics Assail Potential New York Move on Regulating Online Colleges
Kate TaylorNew York Times (NYT)
March 16, 2016
Consumer advocates, legal aid organizations and labor unions are urging New York State’s education commissioner not to sign an interstate agreement that they say would expose students to harm at the hands of online colleges and universities.
News Story
HRW: Rubber-stamp justice punishes the poor
Al Jazeera AmericaJanuary 21, 2016
New report outlines how debt-buying practices push the poor further into poverty and abuse the court system.
News Story
How Debt Collectors Ruin Lives
Michelle ChenNation, The
December 2, 2015
A recent lawsuit has helped expose what advocates describe as a reign of financial terror, threatening financially distressed consumers with spurious lawsuits to basically coerce people into paying debts they did not owe them.
News Story
Over 350K New Yorkers settle with ‘shady’ debt collector
Catherine CuranNew York Post
November 22, 2015
355,000 New Yorkers have achieved a far-reaching class-action settlement. In addition to paying $59 million, the defendants agreed to exit the debt-collecting business and to wipe out roughly $800 million in questionable debts, from default judgments.
News Story
Victims of Debt Collection Scheme in New York Win $59 Million in Settlement
Benjamin MuellerNew York Times (NYT)
November 13, 2015
Tens of thousands of New Yorkers who had their wages garnished or bank accounts frozen in a surreptitious debt-collection scheme will receive $59 million in a class-action settlement that also bars a major network of collectors from continuing the practice.
News Story
Pitfalls for the Unwary Borrower Out on the Frontiers of Banking
Michael CorkeryNew York Times (NYT)
September 13, 2015
Some of the upstart companies in online borrowing are exhibiting their own troubling traits, according to interviews with borrowers, legal aid lawyers and consumer advocates.
News Story
FEMA tells residents it needs Sandy money back after wrongly disbursing funds
David B. Caruso, Michael KunzelmanWashington Post
November 9, 2014
After wrongly disbursing Sandy money, FEMA asks for the money back.
Op-Ed
The Second-Mortgage Shell Game
Elizabeth M. LynchNew York Times (NYT)
February 27, 2013
In implementing mortgage settlements, government should require banks to give relief on first mortgages, which is more likely to keep people in their homes.
This page last modified: Thu, November 9, 2017 -- 11:16 am ET