STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A blind Concord resident has a message for the New York City Housing Authority: Open your eyes.

Justin Williams said that the NYCHA not only stopped paying the Section 8 subsidy for his rent without notice but communicates important information to him through written letters only.

Letters that he can’t read because of his disability.

Williams has launched a lawsuit against NYCHA in Brooklyn federal court, accusing the agency of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and a raft of other human rights laws.

Federal assistance for housing given to the disabled, the poor and others is commonly known as "Section 8," and Williams uses the subsidy to help pay his rent at a private home on Targee Street, where he has lived since 1998.

"If my Section 8 voucher isn’t restored, I don’t know what I’ll do or where I will live," Williams said during an interview in the St. George offices of Staten Island Legal Services (SILS), which is handling his case. "I am afraid I will become homeless."

The NYCHA’s failure to notify Williams of the termination was merely the last in a series of failures to notify him of vital information, including two changes in the location of his NYCHA service center, said SILS attorney Nancy Goldhill.

Ms. Goldhill said that while the NYCHA is claiming it didn’t know Williams is disabled, he had appeared in person annually at the agency’s offices to recertify for his benefits.

"He came in with his white cane, and the NYCHA staff, recognizing his disability, helped him complete the necessary paperwork," said Ms. Goldhill. "To claim no one was aware that Mr. Williams is blind is simply absurd."

In addition, Ms. Goldhill said, when Williams initially applied for the housing subsidy, he provided the NYCHA with information regarding his disability and his receipt of Supplemental Security Income.

Later, when Williams began to receive Social Security Disability benefits, he provided NYCHA staff with proof of that determination as well.

Williams said he has been getting the Section 8 subsidy through the NYCHA since 1994. He previously lived in Queens.

Am NYCHA spokeswoman said the agency does not discuss pending litigation.

Williams’ lawsuit claims that the NYCHA’s policy of mailing only written notices to Section 8 tenants does not reasonably accommodate people with visual impairments, in violation of the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the New York City Human Rights Law.

The lawsuit also claims that the NYCHA denied Williams due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

"I feel like I’m living in a soap opera," said Williams, who said he is in his 40s but didn’t want his exact age published. "They didn’t handle it right."

He said his landlord has not moved to evict him.

Ms. Goldhill said the NYCHA easily could have met its obligation by calling Williams to notify him that his rental subsidy was in jeopardy, but the agency "failed to accommodate him in any way."

Other agencies and utilities have been more understanding of his disability, Williams said. He said he receives information from Consolidated Edison on audio CDs or in Braille form. He communicates with others on the telephone or via audio-enchanced web sites.

The lawsuit seeks the restoration of Williams’ subsidy as well as an order that NYCHA cease its "discriminatory policy" by providing equal and meaningful access to all Section 8 benefits information in formats that are accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.

Such an order, Ms. Goldhill said, would ensure that hundreds of others like Williams need not endure the ordeal of facing homelessness because they cannot read notices.

"It’s difficult to deal with," Williams said. "It’s stressing me out."