Monique Bourne testifies on CCHR, HRA, and APS discrimination

Thank you, Clement, and thank you to our interpreter who's accompanying you.

We'll go to Zoom to hear from Monique Bourne.

Is Morinike on?

Okay.

Okay.

And do you mind telling me your name to the interpreter?

I'm asking the interpreter.

Yes, my name is Brandon K.

Boyce.

Thank you, Brandon.

Okay.

I am reading a statement by Morinike Arborn, who has requested an accommodation to have her testimony presented on her behalf.

My contribution to this meeting regarding civil rights and human rights is that I do not feel my civil rights or liberties have been recognized and respected.

I feel I have been repeatedly denied meaningful due process.

On September 28, 2025, I reported disability-related barriers involving HRA and APS to the City Commission on Human Rights.

I described being ignored or denied accommodations, inaccessible application and appeal procedures, and the absence of individualized consideration.

I followed up with support records.

And expressly requested investigation.

The Commission's Law Enforcement Bureau acknowledged my report and promised a telephone follow-up.

On October 15th, it replied on a landlord correspondence thread that the situation did not appear covered by the NYC Human Rights Law and directed me

to telephone intake.

That response did not explain how it assessed my actual disability access allegations, what recordings it considered, and whether it was disposing of my earlier report.

I still have no explained assessment or corrective intervention that opened the assistance process.

I understand the commission does not award rental subsidies.

I asked it to address discrimination in access to city services.

HRA denied an application I had never been allowed to complete or review.

My city FEPS appeal waited a year for a scheduled hearing, then faced missing records and later proceeded without my participation.

Where was the meaningful review while my home remained at risk?

I have housing.

I need it preserved.

CityFEP stands for City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement.

But where is the city fighting homelessness in my household?

In my experience, the opposite is happening.

My efforts to stabilize this home meets resistance, and the doors to the assistance program, to the assistance process, remains shut as homelessness encroaches.

I have not seen action with the urgency needed to stop it.

My household should have been a straightforward housing preservation case if stabilization is a priority and its pathways are operational.