THE GOTHAMIST, David Brand, Apr 22, 2024

Colette Baird was counting down the 90 or so days until her eviction, with no idea where she would go next or how she’d afford it on her modest disability checks.

Her landlord told her he was turning her first-floor unit in the Longwood section of the Bronx over to his daughter and wanted her out. In September 2023, the landlord won a court-ordered eviction and reached a settlement with Baird giving her until the start of the new year to leave.

But Baird, who’s 52 with late-stage cancer and severe spinal problems, was struggling to find a new apartment.

She’s one of tens of thousands of renters with disabilities and fixed incomes in the city who face rising housing costs and the risk, or reality, of homelessness. Gothamist met with Baird multiple times since the eviction order as she scrambled to find a new place to live within her limited means and had seemingly no way of securing rental assistance without first entering a homeless shelter.

Her experience highlights the financial problems still lingering for many tenants and small landlords four years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the limited options for low-income New Yorkers on the cusp of an eviction amid a citywide affordable housing crisis.

“It just seems like it’s impossible,” Baird said at the start of the year, as her housing search hit a series of dead ends and her landlord demanded she leave. “It’s depressing, it’s sad, and I know other people who are in my situation, and elderly people even. There’s a shortage of housing.”

That shortage can be especially hard on people with disabilities and serious medical problems. More than 38% of renters with disabilities pay at least half their income on housing, an arrangement the federal government considers “severely rent burdened,” according to the city’s most recent housing survey. A city assistance program freezes rentsfor people with disabilities, but doesn’t help people looking for an apartment.

About 9,500 people aged 50 and older live in the city shelter system, according to the city’s Department of Homeless Services. Many of those older adults have serious medical issues that can further complicate housing searches and shelter exits.

In December, Baird was on the verge of joining them. It was a shock after a long career in government and health care.

“I was a working woman and to have this happen is just really devastating,” she said that month “Now I know what it feels like to be facing homelessness, to be homeless.”

She said several owners and brokers told her they would accept rental assistance vouchers, but Baird had no way to get one under current city rules. Mayor Eric Adams is blocking a law that would allow low-income New Yorkers facing eviction to get city-funded vouchers. City officials argue it would cost too much to implement and the requirements for eligibility are too lax.

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