Two-thirds of the families living in a Queens housing complex — most of them formerly homeless — have been served with eviction papers in the last two years, court records show.

The high rate of eviction filings in a single supportive housing building, one that gets public dollars to subsidize rents and provide supportive services, is raising red flags among tenant advocates. They say the city isn't doing its part to ensure providers are keeping the most vulnerable New Yorkers housed. It’s a failure that not only harms families but can also wind up costing taxpayers far more money in shelter beds and other services.

“ There's something really wrong in a situation where we have families that were homeless and went into supportive housing and then find themselves either homeless again or very close to it,” said Craig Hughes, a social worker with the Tenant Rights Coalition at Legal Services NYC.

”What we're seeing in many cases is jumping to housing court is actually not the last option; jumping to housing court becomes a very quick option that providers take.”

Eviction filings across supportive housing units are not tracked by the city. But more than 550 eviction warrants, which authorize a marshal to remove a tenant from a unit, have been filed in the last year across supportive housing units and 185 people have been evicted, according to Legal Services.

There are 42,000 supportive housing units across the city. The organization, which provides free legal representation to low-income New Yorkers, began tracking evictions across supportive housing units last year.

At the 63-unit Harriet Tubman building in Far Rockaway, 60 eviction cases have been filed against 43 tenants since July 2023, court records show. In more than a dozen cases, tenants were sued a second time after settling the initial case for overdue rent; two tenants were sued three times. Ultimately, three tenants were evicted and one left after they were sued. WIN said one of the tenants was incarcerated and another refused to sign a lease.

The building, which opened in 2021, is co-owned by Related Companies, a for-profit developer, and WIN, the largest provider of shelter and supportive housing for families with children.

WIN CEO Christine Quinn said she wasn’t aware of the high rate of eviction filings but was working with Related Companies, which she said handles evictions, to slow down how quickly tenants are taken to court when they fall behind on rent.

“Our responsibility is to make sure our tenants in supportive housing stay permanently housed. If they get evicted, they're just gonna end up back in one of our shelters, and that's not why we have supportive housing,” she said.

Related Companies said in an emailed statement that it was working with WIN and various city agencies to prevent unnecessary displacement and support residents struggling to find stability.

Matt Rauschenbach, press secretary for the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which provides rental assistance for the building, said the agency expects supportive housing landlords to “pursue every avenue” before filing an eviction. He said the agency will “continue to push to make sure those obligations are met and the challenges raised at this building are addressed.”

‘I need help’

Court records show in a handful of cases, tenants at Harriet Tubman were sued for over $600 or $800 in owed rent. Rents for tenants in proceedings show they average around $400 a month.

The building boasts a playground and tenants there said everything in the apartments when they moved in was brand new; they said maintenance and security were great. But once they fell behind on rent, that quickly landed them in court.

“I am doing all I can,” one tenant wrote in her court paperwork. “I just need more time. I will keep trying every day.”

Case filings show tenants often cited their mental illness as a barrier to paying their rent and others mentioned lost jobs or delays with their public assistance benefits that pay part or all of their rent.

“You pass neighbors, they talk in the hallway, or you hear them saying, ‘Oh my God, I'm going to court too. Oh yeah, me too. Oh my God,” said Nilsa Maria, 53, who was sued twice over owed rent.

She said she fell behind after her daughter, who was working, moved out. Now, the public assistance she receives isn’t enough to cover her portion of the rent.

“ They're supposed to help us out. They know that we can't afford these apartments,” she said. “I need help, I need help.”

The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which contracts with WIN to provide services, said providers take proactive approaches to make sure tenants pay on time and continue to provide case management through eviction proceedings.

“The Health Department remains unwavering in our commitment to support New Yorkers regardless of their housing situation and continues to expand access to high-quality supportive housing,” DOHMH spokesperson Rachel Vick said.

The Department of Social Services is building a system to track eviction warrants and identify at-risk tenants. The agency is also considering tightening its contracts to make eviction a last resort.

Providers say evictions are rare

The city’s supportive housing industry has ballooned by 10,000 units in the last decade. Apartments are either entire buildings, typically owned and operated by a nonprofit organization, or in scattered sites, where the nonprofits lease individual units on the private market.

A patchwork of city and state agencies contracts with various providers and landlords, providing millions in rent subsidies and funding for services.

Providers, city officials and housing advocates say the model is a critical piece to housing New Yorkers who are living in homeless shelters, have a mental illness or substance abuse disorder, or are aging out of foster care.

Supportive housing providers have said evictions are a tool of last resort and are rare. But they say even small amounts of rent can build up and they need those dollars to operate the building and provide services for tenants. Tenants pay 30% of their income toward rent and the city covers the rest.

But tenant advocates say going to court is traumatizing for tenants and can set them even further behind.

“All of that stress ends up amplifying pre-existing mental conditions, mental health, social-emotional. Getting an eviction notice and telling them you’re going to get kicked out is not going to be good for them. Suddenly, you have to drop everything to figure out where you’re going to live,” said Kat Corbell, co-founder of Supportive Housing Organized and United Tenants or SHOUT, a tenant union.

“It just creates upheaval.”

Quinn, the CEO of WIN, said a barrier for supportive housing providers to provide more services for tenants is funding.

That would allow providers to provide more robust programs to help those with serious mental illness or who have been homeless for years. Quinn said WIN was fundraising to bring financial literacy services and working more aggressively to ensure tenants at Harriet Tubman get the help they need to pay rent.

“The assumption that folks are going to be able to pay bills every month is not a fair assumption,” she said. “If you are chronically homeless, you may not have paid rent in quite some time.”

This story has been updated to include additional information from WIN, the supportive housing provider.