Forgotten Families: Judge rules Newark's blocking of New York City SOTA program as unconstitutional
NEWARK, N.J. -- There is a new development tonight in CBS2's ongoing investigation of a controversial city program that relocates homeless families.
For years, we uncovered residents being placed in dilapidated homes in New Jersey. One municipality sued the city to stop it from happening, and, as Lisa Rozner reported Tuesday, that New Jersey city is now being dealt a curveball.
In 2019, we introduced you to single mom Shakira Jones, who was placed by New York City's Department of Homeless Services -- or DHS -- in uninhabitable Newark homes twice.
"My heat would go out. I was in here for days with my children with no electricity," Jones said.
Jarvis Cureton and his family were also relocated twice through the New York City Special One-Time Assistance program or SOTA.
"As soon as we moved in we informed them of, like it was an infestation problem," Cureton said.
FLASHBACK: Forgotten Families: NYC files countersuit against Newark over SOTA program
But they said DHS did nothing, even after paying landlords across the river one year's rent upfront to house eligible working homeless families. The idea was after the year, families could pay their own rent.
Newark said around 1,200 families were moved there without notice, and the municipality sued New York in federal court in 2019. It also passed an ordinance that blocked the SOTA program ... until Tuesday.
A judge ruled the move was unconstitutional, and Newark has repealed the law. This comes after a class action lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society and Lowenstein Sandler LLP, with Jones as the lead plaintiff.
"We've had hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are stuck in the shelter system and unable to move out, because Newark was refusing to let people move from New York City shelters to Newark," said attorney Josh Goldfein, with the Legal Aid Society's Homeless Rights Project.
Rozner spoke with the Cureton family on Tuesday. They said after their voucher ran out, they ended up paying several months of rent on their own in a building before moving to Connecticut in 2020.
"The people who were really affected by this, right, the shelter residents, their voices were not being heard," said Matthew Oliver of Lowenstein Sandler.
The lawyers could still ask a court to compensate families who had to live in deplorable conditions while in the program.
Rozner asked Newark's mayor for an interview, but a spokesperson said the city has "No comment."
Newark is still proceeding with its federal lawsuit against New York. Jersey City and Elizabeth, which also sued New York City, told Rozner they recently settled their litigation.
