As the city presses landlords to take in homeless families, some have decided it’s okay to illegally refuse to rent to tenants who get government aid, the city controller has found.
A disturbing pattern has emerged on Craigslist of landlords openly warning off tenants who get city or federal housing assistance, Controller Scott Stringer said Tuesday.
On Craigslist this week, one ad for a two-bedroom in East Flatbush stated flatly “NO VOUCHERS.” A one-bedroom in Pelham Bay specified “Sorry NO Public Assistance.”
A Coney Island one-bedroom — described as “nice place, nice price” — spelled out “No Section 8 Pls,” referring to federal aid for poor families.
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A 2008 city law bars landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their “lawful source of income,” and on Tuesday Stringer demanded that the city’s Commission on Human Rights go after landlords who openly ignore the law.
“These ads say ‘no voucher need apply,’ echoing generations of discrimination against low-income New Yorkers,” Stringer stated.
Mayor de Blasio has complained that some landlords are declining to participate in his Living in Communities (LINC) program that seeks to move homeless families from shelters into apartments.
At the Fulton Family Shelter in the Bronx, Yolanda Soto said she’s been in shelters since July with her three children, including an 11-year-old daughter in a wheelchair.
She says landlords repeatedly tell her “No LINC” — a reference to de Blasio’s program.
“They didn’t say why,” she said. “I think it’s discrimination because of my daughter being in a wheelchair.”
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The Legal Aid Society recently sued Starrett City in Brooklyn over this issue.
“All these people are languishing in homeless shelters even though they have funds to pay rent,” said Judith Goldiner of Legal Aid. “It’s extremely pervasive. Almost every client we have who has a voucher is telling us the landlords won’t take it.”
Goldiner said Legal Aid began pressing the Human Rights Commission about this in March, but since then nothing has come of it.
“All you have is carrots. What you need is sticks,” Goldiner said. “What you need to do is go after the (landlords) because it’s illegal.”
On Tuesday Stringer sent Commissioner Carmelyn Malalis a letter demanding action.
In June, Malalis noted the commission had begun free training to “educate housing providers” about the law — noting that she “regularly receives complaints from the public reporting that landlors or real estate brokers refuse to rent to tenants with public assistance vouchers.”
On Tuesday, HRC spokesman Seth Hoy said, “It’s illegal to refuse to rent to tenants with public assistance vouchers in New York City and the Commission on Human Rights aggressively investigates and will prosecute any landlord or broker who discriminates on this basis.”
