A feature from my days as a newspaper reporter in New York City.
BY VIVIAN SCHLESINGER
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
Staten Island Advance
Janet and Gary Shouldis have dodged homelessness since they were old enough to walk.
Now 20 and 17, respectively, the sister and brother fear what they escaped in childhood could become a reality as they become adults. And whatever the outcome of their soon-to-be-decided fate, one thing is clear: The city Housing Authority will play a major role; a hearing with the agency will be held Thursday in Manhattan.
The Shouldises were deserted by their mother as preschoolers. When Miss Shouldis was 7 years old and her brother was 5, their grandmother took them in. Their father, who remains in contact with them, has a gambling addiction that continues to prevent him from supporting them, according to his children. And when their grandmother died last March, the Shouldises were threatened with eviction from their home of 12 years, an apartment in the Todt Hill Houses in Castleton Corners -- one of the city Housing Authority's subsidized housing complexes. For the apartment, they pay a rent they can afford on Miss Shouldis' salary. She makes $5 an hour as an attendant at a fast-food stand in the Staten Island Mall in New Springville. "I wouldn't have anywhere to go. I wouldn't know where to go," Miss Shouldis said on a recent evening as she sat at her kitchen table.
Because the siblings' grandmother, Helen Shouldis, did not list them as tenants when she took them in, the city Housing Authority said it will likely evict them. So far, Housing Authority officials have determined the two have no "survivors' rights" to the apartment.
The Housing Authority's public relations office was unavailable for comment on the situation.
Helen Shouldis was 62 years old, widowed and had already raised 11 of her own children when she took the two grandchildren in. While she became a mother to them, feeding and clothing them, paying for their education, Mrs. Shouldis never officially became their legal guardian, Miss Shouldis said. Mrs. Shouldis neglected to do this for fear she and the children would be ousted from her two-bedroom apartment, according to an uncle, Robert Shouldis.
Miss Shouldis is currently her brother's legal guardian. Their father remained their legal guardian throughout the time they lived with their grandmother. But the Shouldises remain optimistic because officials have asked them to prove they lived with their grandmother and they feel they can.
The brother and sister's address is shown as their grandmother's apartment on school documents. And letters from neighbors and school officials state Mrs. Shouldis cared for the children while they lived with her for the past 12 years.
The Shouldises' uncle helped them compile the documents. And he will accompany the siblings on Thursday to what will be their last city Housing Authority hearing. Slated to be held in Manhattan, the hearing will give the Shouldises an opportunity to ask to stay in the apartment for which they pay $277 a month in rent. If they are not allowed to remain, officials told them they will be evicted in April, the brother and sister said. "They need the apartment. They can't be paying a $600-a-month rent. You're (the city) going to make homeless here," said their uncle. He sat across from his niece at the kitchen table.
Shouldis said he was bitter because he felt as though his niece and nephew were being put out into the street, possibly to make room for someone on public assistance. He argued his mother took on a financial burden that would have been passed along to the taxpayers and said the situation is an example of the self-defeating rules built into the welfare system. "It just seems unbelievable, like a slap in the face all around," Shouldis said.
The Housing Authority has placed at least 181 families on public assistance in Staten Island's 11 subsidized housing complexes over the past four years as part of an effort to empty the city's "welfare hotels," according to authority spokesman Fred Taylor. Meanwhile, thousands of working poor families have been on waiting lists for apartments in subsidized housing. Some have waited for more than 10 years, authorities said.
The late Mrs. Shouldis, a retired radiology clerk, a grandmother to 27 children, brought up Miss Shouldis and her brother without public assistance, her granddaughter said.
St. Teresa's School principal Sister Mary Joseph Deasaro said Mrs. Shouldis was the only person she contacted about her grandchildren when they were students at the Castleton Corners grammar school. Mrs. Shouldis paid the children's tuition, bought their books and uniforms and was involved in school activities, Sister Mary Joseph recalled in a recent telephone interview. She characterized Mrs. Shouldis as "very active" in school functions. She said she was a member of the PTA, went on field trips and was a schoolyard recess attendant. Of the children, Sister Mary Joseph said: "Always helpful; they got that from their grandmother."
When Mrs. Shouldis died last March at age 76, things changed rapidly for her grandchildren. In early April, Miss Shouldis found out she and her brother were to be evicted. She had to leave college to work to pay the bills. Miss Shouldis was a freshman nursing major at the College of Staten Island. Now, as a food attendant, she works from 27 to 30 hours a week. Recent cutbacks in hours prevent her from working a full-time shift, she said.
She requested an official hearing on the eviction, and in the fall, she was informed in writing by a Housing Authority official that she and her brother did not have a claim to the apartment based on "survivors' rights."
According to an Oct. 16 letter from Housing Authority district manager John Costello, "a remaining family member" -- one who may remain after the lease holder dies -- has to be either a family member at the time of the move-in, born into the family after the moving or receive written approval from the project management.
"As you can see (your situation) does not meet the guidelines of a remaining family member," Costello said in the letter.
The younger Shouldis is a student at Susan Wagner High School, where he is also a pitcher on the baseball team. He is hoping a good season will get him into college on a scholarship. Without a scholarship, he won't be going to college, said Miss Shouldis, adding that she is anxious to continue her education.
Alas, a happy ending!
Eviction Threat Lifted for Sister, Brother:
Advance Story Brings Wave of Support
VIVIAN SCHLESINGER
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
Staten Island Advance
Calling it the "humane thing to do," city officials yesterday decided not to evict a young Castleton Corners woman and her 17-year-old brother from public housing.
The decision came two days after the siblings' story appeared in the Sunday Advance. The story set off a wave of public support for the pair.
"I am so happy right now," said Janet Shouldis, 20, after returning from work to receive word that she and her brother, Gary, would not be evicted from their Todt Hill Houses apartment over a technicality in housing regulations.
"I was just crying, to tell you the truth," said the siblings' uncle, Robert Shouldis, 15 minutes after he heard the news. Gary Shouldis declined to comment.
The city Housing Authority, which operates the city's public housing, decided to give the Shouldises a lease after reviewing their case."Since we permitted their residence for this length of time, it is in our best judgment to permit them to stay," said authority spokesman Val Coleman.
The Shouldises have lived in the Todt Hill Houses since they were children. Coleman said the Shouldises would be expected to pay 30 percent of their income in rent -- which is considerably lower than what they now pay, $277 a month.
Today, Miss Shouldis will meet with the Todt Hill Houses manager to draw up a lease, she said.
Abandoned by their mother as children, they were taken in by their grandmother, Helen Shouldis, who lived in the apartment complex. For 12 years, Mrs. Shouldis fed and clothed her grandchildren without public assistance. When she died last March at age 76, Housing Authority officials told the brother and sister they would be evicted because their grandmother had never listed them as tenants. But the Shouldises didn't have anywhere to go or an income that would sustain them. For a year, the Shouldises waged a private struggle with the Housing Authority in which their requests for a lease were denied twice. Officials told them they had no "survivors' rights" to the apartment, according to letters and records Miss Shouldis provided to the Advance.
During that time, Miss Shouldis took a leave of absence from college to support herself and her brother. She continues to work at a fast-food counter in the Staten Island Mall in New Springville.
Going public as a last recourse, the Shouldises' story was chronicled in the Sunday Advance -- four days before they were slated to attend a final hearing on the matter in the authority's Manhattan offices.
Support calls flowed into the Advance offices for two days after the story appeared. More than 50 Staten Islanders offered jobs, money and political might. Three lawyers offered to represent the brother and sister free of charge. Island business people offered to help Janet get a better-paying job. One woman said she would consider taking the Shouldises into her home. Others wanted to contribute money toward their college educations.
City Council President Andrew Stein had a letter of support hand-delivered to Housing Authority Chairwoman Sally Hernandez-Pinero on Monday morning. Assemblyman Eric Vitaliano also wrote a letter of support. And North Shore Councilman Jerome X. O'Donovan pledged to attend the hearing to testify on the Shouldises behalf. Others called to express their empathy and outrage or offer advice on financial aid for college. Miss Shouldis still has to find a way to pay her college education while supporting herself and her brother.
Bob Catherwood, of Great Kills, called to say he would be rooting for Gary Shouldis this baseball season. Gary, a pitcher at Susan Wagner High School, is hoping a good season will bring him an offer of an athletic scholarship, his sister said. "I'm just hoping and praying that her brother makes it," Catherwood said, adding, "These kids deserve an award for staying off welfare the way they did."
Aside from the emotional support and the political pressure, the Shouldises thankfully declined the offers of assistance.
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