Westchester launches office that provides free eviction support
Bruce McAllister, of Peekskill, remembers the challenges he faced when get got evicted in 2022.
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Westchester County is taking new steps to make sure tenants facing eviction have support throughout the process.
Bruce McAllister, of Peekskill, remembers the challenges he faced when get got evicted in 2022.
"I lost my apartment, I had nowhere to live, I had to ask my aunt, 'Can I stay with her,'" McAllister says.
To prevent others from going through this, Westchester County opened a new Office of Housing Counsel. George Asante is the director.
"We're providing access to eviction-prevention legal services and eviction-prevention advocacy services," Asante says.
According to Asante, his office was created out of great need.
"The eviction filings in housing court were and are rising since the pandemic. Prior to this law being created, it was at its peak. There were about 10,000 eviction filings in city courts and county courts," Asante says.
Asante says everyone in Westchester is eligible for some level of free service.
Those facing eviction can fill out a form on the Housing Counsel website or call a local United Way specialist at 211 to get assistance.
"To help alleviate some of the strain on families and give them a more direct way of being able to get help, it's always something we want to be a part of, it's what United Way does," says United Way Westchester's Chief Impact Officer Faith Ann Butcher.
If the office was around when McAllister was evicted, he says his story could have looked very different.
"It would have changed my life because I would have had somebody advocating for me," McAllister says.
