Fact Sheets and Self-Help Guides

COVID-19 Issues
Consumers
Families
Health Care
Health Care -Medicaid
Health Care – Medicare
ID Cards
Immigration
Nursing Home Residents
People with Disabilities
People with Disabilities – Adult Home Residents
Public Benefits – Income
Public Benefits – SSI & SSD
Seniors
Hurricane Sandy Victims
Tenants
Tenants: People with Disabilities
Tenants: Public Housing
Tenants: Seniors
Tenants: SRO Tenants
Tenants: Three-Quarter House Tenants
Workers

Select from the options above or scroll down to find answers to frequently asked questions. (Fact sheets are pdf files—click here to get acrobat reader.)

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COVID-19 ISSUES

CARES Act Economic Impact Payments
CARES Act Economic Impact Payments for Adult Home Residents
CARES Act Economic Impact Payments for Homeless New Yorkers
CARES Act Economic Impact Payments for Nursing Home Residents
Cash Assistance Benefits During COVID-19 Outbreak
Child Support Services During COVID-19 Outbreak
Public Assistance Work and Employment Activities During COVID-19 Outbreak
Second Round of Economic Impact Payments
SNAP Benefits During COVID-19 Outbreak
Student Loans During COVID-19 Outbreak
Tenants’ Rights During COVID-19 Outbreak
Trouble Paying Your Mortgage During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Unemployment Benefits During the COVID-19 Pandemic

TENANTS

How Do I Get Repairs from My Landlord?
How to Make a 311 Complaint Against Your Landlord
How Can Seniors Stop Rent Increases?
How Can People with Disabilities Stop Rent Increases?
How Do I Assert Succession Rights in a Rent Regulated Apartment?
Keeping Your Pet in a New York City Apartment
Keeping Pets as Emotional Support Animals in NYC Apartments
Foreclosure Facts for Tenants
Reasonable Accommodations for People with Mental Illness Living in NYC Apartments
Applying for Emergency Rental Assistance
Applying for HRA Emergency Grants
What Is a Guardian ad Litem?

Public Housing (NYCHA) Tenants

Applying for Public Housing
How Do I Get Repairs if I Live in a NYCHA Apartment?
How Can I Tell if My NYCHA Rent Is Correct?
What Kind of Behavior Can Get Me Evicted from My NYCHA Apartment?
How Do I Handle Housing Authority Termination-of-Tenancy Procedures?
What Do I Need to Do to Have Someone Move into My NYCHA Apartment?
What Do I Do if I Disagree with Something NYCHA Does?
How to Get an Emergency Grant (“One Shot” Deal)

Tenants: Seniors

How Can Seniors Stop Rent Increases?

Tenants: People with Disabilities

How Can People with Disabilities Stop Rent Increases?
Reasonable Accommodations for People with Mental Illness Living in NYC Apartments
Keeping Pets as Emotional Support Animals

SRO Tenants

SRO Tenants: Know Your Rights

Three-Quarter House Tenants

Three-Quarter House Tenants: Know Your Rights
Three-Quarter House Tenants: Know Your Rights about Evictions

PUBLIC BENEFITS

Income

Applying for Public Assistance
How Do I Recertify for Public Assistance?
Working for Your Public Assistance
How Do I Keep from Losing My Public Assistance Benefits because of Work Assignment Sanctions?
Applying for HRA Emergency Grants
Applying for Emergency Rental Assistance
Maximizing Income for Seniors
Applying for Social Security Benefits
How Do I Get a Representative Payee for My Social Security Benefits?
Immigrants’ Rights to Public Benefits
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Earned Income Tax Credit

SSI and SSD

Student Earned Income Exclusion
Tips for Doctors Filling Out Applications for SSI and SSD
What Do I Need to Report to Social Security when Receiving SSI Benefits?
The Basics: Working while Getting SSD
The Basics: Working while Receiving SSI
Preventing Overpayments
Fighting Overpayments
How to Maintain SSI Benefits to Ensure Medicaid Coverage

HURRICANE SANDY VICTIMS

Hurricane Sandy: Disaster Unemployment Assistance
Hurricane Sandy: Emergency Food Stamps
Hurricane Sandy: FEMA Benefits
Preventing Contractor Fraud
Hurricane Sandy: Recovering Lost Wages
Hurricane Sandy: Emergency Social Security Payments
Hurricane Sandy: Replacing Food Stamps
Hurricane Sandy: Rent Reductions for Emergency Conditions in Apartments

CONSUMERS

Frozen Bank Accounts: Your Rights under the Exempt Income Protection Act
How Do I Stop Debt Collectors from Bothering Me?
Can Creditors Take My Benefits and Assets?
I Can’t Afford to Pay My Debts. what Should I Do and What is Going to Happen to Me?
I Owe Money and Want to Set Up a Payment Plan with a Debt Collector. What Should I Do?
I Have Received Papers Labeled “Summons” and “Complaint.” What Are These? What Should I Do?
I’ve Been Sued for Debt. What Will Happen When I Go to Court?
I Am Being Sued for Debt: What Should I Put in My Answer?
I Am Being Sued on a Medical Debt – What Should I Do?
How to Remove a Default Judgment
Personal Bankruptcy
How Do I Negotiate a Settlement?
How Can I Prevent Identity Theft?
Preventing Contractor Fraud
Questions and Answers on Credit Reports

WORKERS

Know Your Rights: A Guide for Workers in NYC
Workers Have Rights (Regardless of Immigration Status)
New Minimum Wage
Earned Income Tax Credit

SENIORS

Maximizing Income for Seniors
How Can Seniors Stop Rent Increases?
Keeping Pets as Emotional Support Animals in NYC Apartments
What Is Medicare, Am I Eligible for It and How Do I Enroll?
The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program: How to Appeal a Denial to an Exception by Your Plan
Applying for Social Security Benefits
How Do I Get a Representative Payee for My Social Security Benefits?

FAMILIES

Who Has to Pay Child Support and How Much Do I Have to Pay?
Earned Income Tax Credit
Guide for Parents Preparing for Potential Deportation

Kinship Families

Cash Assistance for Kinship Caregivers in New York City
Child Care Resources for Kinship Caregivers
Health Insurance for Children in Kinship Care
What Rights Do I Have to Visit My Grandchildren?
Adoption in New York Courts
Understanding Your HRA Benefits: A Guide for Kinship Caregivers
Family Court 101: What Caregivers Should Know before Going to Family Court
ACS, Court Proceedings and Your Legal Options

EDUCATION

Individualized Education Programs – Know Your Rights
School Enrollment and Transfers – Know Your Rights
School Evaluations – Know Your Rights
School Suspensions – Know Your Rights

IMMIGRATION / ID

How Do I Replace My Lost or Stolen Green Card?
Guide for Parents Preparing for Potential Deportation
Immigrants’ Rights to Public Benefits
Interacting with ICE at Home
Interacting with ICE in Courts
Interacting with ICE in Public Spaces
Protesting as a Non-Citizen
Traveling Abroad as a Lawful Permanent Resident
What to do if ICE Comes to Your School

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Disability Discrimination: The Basics
Reasonable Accommodations for People with Mental Illness Living in NYC Apartments
How Can People with Disabilities Stop Rent Increases?
Applying for Access-a-Ride
Access-a-Ride Applicants: How Does the Settlement Affect You?
Tips for Doctors Filling out Applications for Access-A-Ride
Access-a-Ride: How to Appeal a Denial or Reduction of Services
Access-A-Ride: How Doe the Settlement Affect You?
How Do I Get a Half-Fare MetroCard?
What Is a Guardian ad Litem?
How Do I Make Sure My Health Care Wishes Are Followed if I Am Incapacitated?
Keeping Pets as Emotional Support Animals
Medicaid
Medicaid Managed Care: Basic Facts
What You Need to Know About New York State’s Medicaid Buy-In Program
How Do I Pick a New Medicaid Managed Care Plan?
Medicaid Spend-Down Program
Does Assisted Outpatient Treatment Apply to Me?
How to Maintain SSI Benefits to Ensure Medicaid Coverage

Adult Home Residents

What is an Assisted Living Program (ALP) in an Adult Home and How Does it Affect Me?
The Only Person Who Can Evict You from an Adult Home Is a Judge
Rights of Adult Home Residents (Handbook)
Adult Home Residents Can Get Free Cell Phone Service
New Regulations About Adult Homes: How Do They Affect You?
Case Management Services in Adult Homes
Doctors, Aides, Health Plans, and Day Programs: It’s Your Choice!
Settlement for NYC Adult Home Residents with Mental Illness: How Does It Affect You?
Representative Payees and Adult Homes Residents: Your Right To Control Your Money
Moving to Supported Housing Under the O’Toole Settlement: FAQs
Facts about Discharging an Adult Home Residents from the Hospital
What Is a Guardian ad Litem?

HEALTH CARE

How Do I Make Sure My Health Care Wishes Are Followed if I Am Incapacitated?
How Do I Get Access to My Clinical Records?
Medical Privacy: HIPPA and You as the Patient
Medical Privacy: HIPPA and You as the Parent, Child, or Loved One of a Patient

Medicaid

Medicaid
Medicaid Managed Care: Basic Facts
What You Need to Know About New York State’s Medicaid Buy-In Program
How Do I Pick a New Medicaid Managed Care Plan?
Medicaid Spend-Down Program
How to Maintain SSI Benefits to Ensure Medicaid Coverage

Medicare

What Is Medicare, Am I Eligible for It and How Do I Enroll?
The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Program: How to Appeal a Denial to an Exception by Your Plan

NURSING HOME RESIDENTS

Nursing Homes and Alternatives
A Guide to Nursing Home Residents’ Rights
My Rights to Visitors in a Nursing Home
How to Appeal a Nursing Home Notice of Discharge
Nursing Home Residents and Health Care Decisions in New York

ID CARDS

How Do I Get a Non-Driver ID Card or an IDNYC?

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