Initiatives
Three ideas, one gap
She submitted three proposals to The David Prize in 2022 — The Eviction Fund of NYC, #HerHousing and HOME. All three come from the same observation: there is almost nothing built for the moment after a family loses its home.
Flagship proposal · Seeking funding
The Eviction Fund of NYC
A private fund for people who have already been evicted — bridging the gap between the day the marshal comes and the day benefits actually arrive.
The problem
New York’s eviction moratorium ended on January 15, 2022. More than 200,000 households then faced eviction, and the number of legal evictions grew every month through the first half of that year. Even with ERAP funding, many households were left carrying rent debt, and severely rent-burdened families cycle in and out of homelessness.
Her own eviction, in 2019, was retaliation for complaining about unlivable conditions. Working through the aftermath is what showed her the specific hole in the system:
“Through my advocacy and personal journey I realized that there was a stop-gap needed in between after the eviction and getting access to services.”
The Eviction Fund of NYC · Proposal, 2022She found that what support existed was fragmented — rationed by which borough you were evicted from, or restricted to a particular demographic, leaving many people with no safety net at all. Nonprofits and city agencies concentrate, reasonably, on keeping people in their homes. Almost no one is funded for the period after the lock-out and before the benefits.
What it does
Every household that qualifies receives an eviction survival kit: a folder of housing resources and government services, a named liaison to help them navigate their first year post-eviction, and immediate practical support.
The kit
6 items30-day unlimited MetroCard
A month of unrestricted travel, issued for the month they sign up — so getting to appointments, agencies and viewings is not the thing that stops them.
$127 value$150 Visa gift card
Unrestricted spending power, for whatever the household actually needs first.
$150 valuePharmacy card
CVS, Walgreens or Duane Reade — prescriptions and essentials.
$25 valueFedEx card
Printing, copying and shipping — the paperwork an eviction generates, and the documents every benefits application demands.
$25 valueFood cards
Dunkin’ and McDonald’s — hot food that does not need a kitchen, for people who no longer have one.
$25 each, $50 totalResource folder and a named liaison
A list of housing resources and government services, plus a person to call — someone who stays with the household through the first year after eviction.
IncludedBudget
Annual operating budget, 150 households
Roughly 57 percent of the budget reaches households directly; the remainder funds the liaison who does the accompanying, plus administration.
| Resource | Unit cost | Recipients | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-day unlimited MetroCard | $127 | 150 | $19,050 |
| Visa gift card | $150 | 150 | $22,500 |
| CVS / Walgreens / Duane Reade card | $25 | 150 | $3,750 |
| McDonald’s card | $25 | 150 | $3,750 |
| Dunkin’ card | $25 | 150 | $3,750 |
| FedEx card | $25 | 150 | $3,750 |
| Liaison salary | $36,000 | 1 post | $36,000 |
| Administration | — | — | $7,000 |
| Total | $99,550 |
Scroll the table sideways →
Figures from the 2022 proposal document. Direct-to-household support totals $56,550 — $377 per household.
Eligibility and governance
Who qualifies
- Individuals and families already evicted from their residence, waiting on benefits — housing subsidy, SNAP, cash assistance, ERAP, emergency cash or storage.
- Also open to households who do not qualify for HRA benefits but earn under $65,000 a year — the group that falls between every existing programme.
- Applicants complete a simple application and must show a current eviction date within the fiscal year, with court records.
- Rolling intake from October through September, until 150 applicants are reached.
Who decides
- Applications routed through the Mayor’s Roundtable on Housing, Unlock NYC, Neighbors Together and Housing Justice for All.
- She oversees all applications; final determinations rest with an Eviction Fund Board of Directors.
- That board is to be composed of impacted New Yorkers — people with direct experience of eviction, homelessness and housing instability. The principle is the same one that runs through all her work: the people inside the system decide.
The other two proposals
2 projects#HerHousing →
In developmentA podcast on the intersections of race, gender, class and housing, paired with an organizing effort among people who are unhoused or housing-unstable. She has said she remains invested in producing it — putting the voices of women navigating the voucher and shelter systems into the housing conversation, rather than leaving them as case studies in someone else’s report.
HOME
ProposedThe third of the three ideas submitted to The David Prize in 2022. Details are not yet published here.