Posted on March 21, 2017 by Kenneth Stephens and Susan Bahn in Crain's Crain's, By Kenneth Stephens and Susan Bahn In a lawsuit brought by The Legal Aid Society 30 years ago, Jiggetts v. Grinker, the state’s highest court ruled that poor families with minor children were entitled to a basic rent subsidy from the state to help keep them from becoming homeless. Eventually we proved that the payments at the time were woefully inadequate. Sadly, they still are. The Jiggetts decision paved the way for the creation of other rental subsidies, including New York City’s Family Eviction Prevention Supplement. But FEPS too proved insufficient. Combined with the regular shelter allotments, it afforded families only $850 a month to locate housing in a market where rents can be twice as much.
