By Roy HoJanuary 8, 2022
Roy Ho of POAGNY.com testifies on 7th January 2022 to NY Senate public hearing on Good Cause Eviction (S3082). Below is the transcript. POAGNY’s members are almost exclusively of Asian immigrants with English not being their first language. They came to the states hoping to build a better life and were ready to do the hard work and make life long sacrifices required to get there. They work at nail salons & restaurants and live humble lives. They don’t have and may not even know what 401k, IRA, equities/bonds are. Many of our members are seniors or single mothers whose only income is the rent. Real estate is the only retirement plan they know and they’ve used every penny they’ve earned on this hope for a better future.
Our members are normal working people, who for the most part have normal working tenants. Majority of our members are also neighbors to their tenants. During the good times, neighbors are neighborly, even when they are landlords and tenants. However, when physical security is in play, not everyone would want to keep their potential dangers that close. Some of our members and also their tenants have become victims of violence caused by nuisant tenants. Queens Housing Court has close to 50% of its eviction cases taking more than 180 days to adjudicate before the pandemic. If the NYC Housing Courts continue to operate at its 2021 speed, the backlog will take at least 4 years to clear, not to mention the new cases starting in 2022. An even more clogged court system, as I expect this bill will exacerbate, will create an even larger unfair burden and more victims than there currently are, not only property owners but also other tenants and the neighboring homeowners.
I suggest you meet with my members who have suffered assaults and injuries before you pass this bill.
Our members are not equipped to deal with multiple & long legal battles. They work six days a week, 12 hours a day. They are not entitled to free counsel unlike some of the tenants and do not have the money to hire attorneys for potentially every single turnover where some tenants are entitled to legal aid with no cap. Many do not even speak or read the language, let alone being able to navigate the convoluted court system that probably makes even all of your heads spin. Before the pandemic, I mostly referred lawyers for eviction cases. Ever since the pandemic, more and more seniors or women are requesting my referrals for bankruptcy lawyers and most recently criminal lawyers. To them, delayed justice is no justice. Thank you for your time.
纽约小房东何德邻於2022年1月7日在纽约州参议院就正由驱赶法（Good Cause Eviction，S3082案）证词。
纽约小房东的会员几乎都是亚洲移民，英语并不是他们的第一语言。他们来到美国，希望能过上更好的生活，并准备好努力工作，为此目的做出毕生牺牲。他们在甲店或餐馆工作，过着简朴的生活。他们没有，甚至可能不知道什么是 401k、IRA、股票或者债券。我们许多会员都是年长者或单身母亲，他们的唯一收入是房租。房产是他们所知道的唯一退休计划，他们把赚到的每一分钱都用在了对美好将来的希望上。
我们的成员是正常的工作人员，他们大部分有正常的工作房客。我们的大多数成员也是房客的邻居。在美好的时光里，邻居是睦邻而居，即使是房东和房客。然而，当人身安全成为危险时，并不是每个人都希望危险近在咫尺。我们的一些会员和他们的房客已经成为滋扰房客造成的暴力受害者。新冠前，皇后区住房法院有近 50% 的驱赶案需要多过 180 天才有判决。如果纽约市住房法院继续以 2021 年的速度运作，积案将至少需要 4 年才能结案完毕，更不用说从 2022 年的新案了。我预计此法案将加剧此状，更加堵塞的法院系统将造成比现在更严重的不义、负担和更多的受害者，不仅是业主，还有其他房客和邻近的自住业主。
我建议你们在通过这项法案之前与遭受袭击和伤害的我的成员会面。
我们的成员没有能力处理多次和长期的法律纠纷。他们每周六天，每天 12 小时的工作。与某些房客不同，他们无权获得免费律师，也没有钱为可能的每一次换房客聘请律师，而某些房客有权获得无上限的法律援助。许多人甚至不会说或读英语，更不用说能够驾驭错综复杂，甚至可能会让你头晕目眩，的法庭系统。 新冠前，我主要是为介绍驱赶律师。 新冠 以来，越来越多的耆老或女房东要求我推荐破产律师和近期要求的刑案律师。对他们来说，迟来的正义是非义。 感谢您的时间。