Lawyers also say that black and Hispanic applicants for housing have been passed over in favor of whites in certain areas.
Among applicants for housing at one location, the agency failed to meet its own deadlines on more than three-quarters of the cases.
Among applicants for housing in one of the division's 10 centers, the agency failed to meet its own deadlines on more than three-quarters of the cases.
To date, the agency has disbursed far less in individual assistance to people economically affected by the attacks than it has in most major disasters, in part because it has rejected 7 out of 10 applicants for housing aid.
Meanwhile, public and private landlords use criminal records as a way to disqualify applicants for housing - often without considering the offense or whether it has any logical connection to whether the person would be a good tenant.
In 2006, William C. Thompson Jr., then the city comptroller, criticized the authority for having two separate computer systems to determine applicants' eligibility for housing and to assign applicants to apartments.
Loans subject to the interest rates and assistance provided under this paragraph (1) may be made only when the Secretary determines the needs of the applicant for necessary housing cannot be met with financial assistance from other sources including assistance under the National Housing Act [12 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.] and the United States Housing Act of 1937 [42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.].
Norwalk is studying an idea that would require first-time applicants for public housing to test negative for illegal drugs, said Curtis O. Law, executive director of the city's housing authority.
The city's allure for out-of-towners who hope to find work, and its historically lower thresholds for providing public assistance, have tended to attract an uneven number of applicants for emergency housing.
