QUEENS, NY (July 31, 2023) – Rent-stabilized tenants in three buildings owned by Zara Realty (140-60 Beech Avenue, 140-30 Ash Avenue, and 140-50 Ash Avenue) held a press conference in Queens yesterday to demand that Zara Realty stop tenant harassment, including asking for birth and marriage certificates, charging unnecessary fees for keys and move-ins, and trying to unlawfully raise rents by filing Major Capital Improvement (MCI) applications with the NYS Department of Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR), the state agency that oversees rent stabilized buildings in New York. Tenants called on DHCR to deny Zara’s applications due to building disrepairs and apply the letter of the law which prohibits MCIs while certain violations exist. Zara, which manages more than 2,500 rent-stabilized apartments across Queens, is notorious for deceptive rent practices and intimidation tactics and is being sued by the NYS Attorney General Letitia James. Tenants are being organized by CHHAYA CDC and Catholic Migration Services and represented by Queens Legal Services’ Tenant Rights Coalition.

NEW YORK, NY (July 25, 2023) – Legal Services NYC and Wilmer Hale announce two new lawsuits against the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) on behalf of two LGBTQ asylum seekers, one from Russia and another from Ukraine, for failing to schedule their asylum hearings. Both plaintiffs, Denys Nikonov and Vadim (Nate) Esin were severely persecuted, beaten, and sexually assaulted in their home countries for being LGBTQ and both have been waiting more than six years for an asylum interview due to the USCIS’s policy of “Last In, First Out” (“LIFO”). The LIFO policy, which was implemented by the Trump Administration and preserved by the Biden Administration as a way to deter asylum-seekers, leaves asylum seekers like Mr. Nikonov and Esin unable to create stable lives and fills them with fear and anxiety of being sent back to their now war-torn nations. With more than 700,000 asylum applications backlogged at USCIS, it is clear that neither will get a hearing, leaving them in a state of permanent limbo.

NEW YORK, NY (June 30, 2023) – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to strike down President Biden’s Student Debt Forgiveness Plan, a program that erases as much as $10,000 in debt for those who make $125,000. As many as 43 million borrows stood to benefit from the plan, which was blocked by a federal trial judge last year.

NEW YORK, NY (June 23, 2023) – New York City’s leading public defender and civil legal services organizations called on Mayor Eric Adams to support increased funding in the City’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget to address insufficient funding levels, wage inequality, and rising costs which jeopardize low-income New Yorkers’ access to critical legal services.

NEW YORK, NY (June 7, 2023) – Legal Services NYC (LSNYC), the nation’s largest provider of free civil legal help, is proud to announce that Christine Clarke will return to its ranks as Chief of Litigation and Advocacy in July 2023. As Chief of Litigation and Advocacy, she will lead LSNYC's strategic advocacy on behalf of low-income New Yorkers, including by initiating and overseeing high impact and complex civil litigation and working closely with advocates and community groups to engage in thoughtful and cutting-edge policy advocacy.