Brooklyn Woman, 74, Suffering From Alzheimer's, Unable to Physically Sign Name, Denied NYCHA Benefit to Pay Rent

A 74-year-old Brooklyn woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and unable to sign paperwork has been threatened with the termination of a rent subsidy by heartless bureaucrats at the city Housing Authority, a lawsuit says.

Legal advocates for Luz Ortega have filed suit in Brooklyn Federal Court to stop the madness that could result in the elderly woman losing the apartment she’s lived in for 15 years.

“If she loses the benefits, she can’t pay for the apartment on her own,” lawyer Rebekah Diller of the Benjamin Cardozo Law School told the Daily News.

Ortega receives a federal Section 8 subsidy that covers more than half the rent for her flat in a private building in Sunset Park.

Under the aid program, which is administered by NYCHA, Ortega is required to sign an income verification form that gives the city agency permission to perform a search of Social Security records.

But Ortega’s mental and physical condition has dramatically worsened in the past year and she is no longer able to sign her name, according to the suit.

Ortega’s daughter Ada Aviles signed the verification form for her mother, but a NYCHA caseworker noticed the signature was different from the documents Ortega signed in the past. Aviles is her mother’s principal caregiver, cooking her meals, bathing her and shopping and cleaning for her mother, the suit says.

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Brooklyn Woman, 74, Suffering From Alzheimer's, Unable to Physically Sign Name, Denied NYCHA Benefit to Pay Rent