Legal Help for Tenants

Overview

Catholic Migration Services’ Housing Program serves the borough of Queens and includes both a legal team and a tenant organizing team. Our work is grounded in a belief that housing is a human right. Our Housing Law Program provides legal advice and representation to low-income tenants living in Queens free of charge on a variety of issues, including:

  • Obtaining repairs and stopping tenant harassment
  • Eviction defense/Holdovers
  • Nonpayment defense
  • Illegal lockouts
  • Division of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) matters for rent-stabilized units:
    • Rent reductions for conditions needing repair
    • Overcharges
    • Major Capital Improvement (MCI) challenges
    • Establishing succession rights
    • Lease renewals
    • SCRIE and DRIE (Senior Citizen and Disability Rent Increase Exemptions

How We Help Tenants

Catholic Migration Services provides free legal advice and representation to help tenants learn and enforce their housing rights. We offer one-on-one consultations and may be able to offer full representation in Court. Consultations are by appointment only and an initial consultation does not guarantee legal representation by Catholic Migration Services.

Our Housing Organizing team helps tenants form tenant associations, build community leaders, provides education on tenants’ rights, and organizes rallies and actions in support of tenants fighting eviction. We are active participants in the tenant advocacy community as part of the Right to Counsel (RTC) coalition, the Rent Justice Coalition, the Real Rent Reform coalition, and Stabilizing NYC, among others. At Queens Housing Court, our organizers conduct outreach as part of “Court Watch”, where advocates inform tenants about Right to Counsel and connect tenants with information about local housing organizations, resources for accessing legal counsel and how to join the movement. Every year, we mobilize a strong community response to oppose rent increases at the public hearings of the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB). We conduct outreach to educate the community about the importance of their voice, recruit individuals to submit written and oral testimony, and coordinate transportation of Sunnyside and Woodside neighbors to turn out to the public hearings.

Our work fighting to keep families in their homes with affordable rents and safe living conditions is rooted in principles of equity, dignity, and justice.

Contact Us for Free Help

To be eligible for our services, tenants must be residents of Queens and qualify as low-income. To request assistance, please call our office at 347-472-3500 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Our staff speaks several languages and can provide translation and interpretation accommodations upon request.

Important Information for Undocumented Tenants

Undocumented tenants have the same rights to housing and protection from landlord harassment under New York City law. Catholic Migration Services provides advice and representation to tenants regardless of their immigration status.

Know Your Rights Presentations, Coalitions and Organizing Tenant Associations

Catholic Migration Services partners with non-profit organizations, educational institutions, religious organizations, and elected officials to present important legal information to tenants so that they can learn their rights and avoid falling victim to unlawful housing practices. We belong to the following coalitions: LEAP Coalition, Right to Counsel NYC Coalition, Stabilizing NYC, Rent Justice Coalition (RJC). Our Know Your Rights programs can be conducted in-person or virtually.

If your organization would like to partner with us to present a Know Your Rights presentation, email us at at info@catholicmigration.org. If you would like to organize a Tenant Association in your building, call us today at 347-472-3500!