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Court Okays City's Abolition of Homeless Program

By DNAinfo Staff on September 14, 2011 6:35am  | Updated on September 14, 2011 6:36am

A Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled that the city was justified in canceling the Advantage program for formerly homeless people renting apartments.
A Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled that the city was justified in canceling the Advantage program for formerly homeless people renting apartments.
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DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT —The abolition of a city program that gave subsidized rents to formerly homeless people was justified, a Manhattan judge has ruled.

The program, run by the Department of Homeless Services and known as Advantage, subsidized rents to 16,255 people so they could move out of shelters. It was dropped on April 1, 2011 after state and federal funding was withdrawn.

On Thursday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Judith Gische ruled that the city had the right to shut down the program after participants brought a legal challenge claiming the city broke leases with the residents.

The court ruled that the city was not a party to the residential leases of the formerly homeless tenants and they were legally justified in cancelling the program.

"The Advantage program, no matter how laudable its goals, is nothing more than a social benefit program, which [the city] had the right to terminate based on the lack of funding available for its continuation," she ruled on Tuesday.

The case was brought on behalf of the tenants by the Legal Aid Society.