EAST VILLAGE — A low-income Chinese-speaking family said they were sued by the city after housing employees would not provide translation services so they could point out an error that raised their rent, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
Campos Plaza residents Ai Fang Lin and her son, John Wang, claim the New York City Housing Authority repeatedly refused to provide them translation and interpretation services — even though it was required by law — making it difficult to communicate with the agency, according to court documents filed by Manhattan Legal Services, which is representing the family.
“Due to NYCHA’s failure to abide by its own language access policies in addition to city and federal laws... [Lin and Wang] have been overwhelmingly frustrated, humiliated, and demoralized by the fact that they were being overcharged for their apartment and yet had no recourse because they simply could not communicate with someone at NYCHA,” the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, the family wants NYCHA to provide interpretation at agency offices, train staff about federal and city language access policies and to translate all “vital” documents — including applications, notices and forms — into simplified Chinese.
They are also seeking “damages for the humiliation and emotional distress they have suffered as a result of Respondent’s unlawful behaviors,” according to court documents.
The family, which has lived in Lin's East 14th Street apartment for 20 years, was unable to afford rent when it went up by more than $230 last fall. Lin and Wang, who earn money as seasonal kitchen workers, did not know why it had increased since their income had not changed drastically from the year before, according to the lawsuit.
Efforts to resolve the issue at the development office were unsuccessful since Wang, who speaks very limited English, could not communicate with NYCHA employees, court documents show. His mother cannot read or speak the language, according to court documents.
The city then sued Lin for nonpayment of rent in February, the lawsuit said, and she sought legal help. An attorney quickly realized an error had been made on her application, court documents show.
The lawyer helped Lin draft a grievance, which “explicitly stated that [Lin and Wang] had limited English proficiency and required interpretation and translation services,” the lawsuit said.
Wang visited Campos Plaza management 10 more times in March and April with the letter, but a translator was never provided, according to the lawsuit. A housing manager eventually spotted the error on April 17 when an attorney accompanied Wang to a meeting, the lawsuit said, and the manager told Wang to complete a new form.
NYCHA later dropped the lawsuit, adjusted Lin's rent and credited her rental account in May after she filed additional paperwork, documents said.
“Were Ms. Lin and Mr. Wang able to communicate with NYCHA employees at Campos Plaza through an interpreter and determine what was in dispute about their income recertification material, the housing court nonpayment could have been avoided,” the lawsuit said.
NYCHA's law department is reviewing the family's claims, said Aja Worthy-Davis, an agency spokeswoman.
“It is NYCHA’s policy to work to ensure meaningful access to language services for all residents. As such, we provide over-the-phone and in-person interpretation services through our Customer Contact Centers,” she said.
The agency also “routinely” interprets Chinese dialects like Mandarin, Cantonese, Fukinese, Shanghainese, Toishanese and Hakka, Worthy-Davis added.
