Requires the division of human rights to report on its website findings of discriminatory practices relating to lawful sources of income; requires landlords of 6 or more residential units to report annually certain information relating to applicants who receive rental subsidies.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9171
SPONSOR: Tapia TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law and the real property law, in relation
to increasing transparency of source of income discrimination findings
and rental application outcomes for voucher holders
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To facilitate data collection and investigation of source of income
discrimination findings.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Section 297 of the executive law by adding a new subdi-
vision 11 requiring the Division of Human Rights to create a publicly
acccesible electronic interface that reports findings of source of
income discrimination.Requires the information provided to be updated no
less than quarterly and provides for the redaction of identifying infor-
mation of individual complainants.
Section 2 amends the real property law by adding a new section 235-k to
require all landlords who own or operate more than six residential
rental units to report the total number of rental applications received
during the prior calendar year, the number of applicants with a rental
subsidy, the number of such subsidy-holder applicants who were offered a
lease or tenancy, and the number of such applicants who were denied
housing. Provides for the public availability of such information
Section 3 establishes the effective date as the 120th day after this act
shall have become law
JUSTIFICATION:
Thousands of rental subsidy recipients in New York State are unable to
find permanent housing. However, it is not the general lack of housing
supply which keeps these prospective tenants on the search, but rather
landlord discrimination against subsidy recipients. The widespread and
well-documented practice of source of income (SOI) discrimination in New
York's rental market has reached a point of crisis. Landlords and
brokers often reject applicants with housing vouchers or totally ghost
them by invoking illegal screening tactics or arbitrary factors that are
irrelevant when rent is covered by a subsidy. However, a claim against
Source of Income Discrimination is hard to pursue and rarely can the
Division of Human Rights track the abundance of cases of SOID.
This results in voucher holders applying to buildings with higher rates
of hazardous violations as a last resort. Meaning that even when a
voucher holder succeeds in receiving an offer from a landlord, the unit
they are offered does not meet inspection standards by housing authori-
ties. What this leads to is a vicious cycle of displacement and transi-
ence. Permanency is a luxury that our current voucher system seems to be
unable to afford.
Many non-profits, advocacy groups, government officials, and advocacy
groups have shone a light on this issue. However, the data is sporadic,
anecdotal, and sparse. The data that is collected, however, point to a
widespread practice of discrimination which flies in the face of our
Human Rights Laws.
This bill is the first of many steps we must take to end SOID once and
for all. Without the data, reporting, and tracking provisions in this
bill, this issue will continue to be addressed piecemeal, without any
substantial widespread reform. By requiring landlords to report,and the
Division to collect, data on the ratios between rental applications and
applications by voucher holders, while requiring landlords to clarify
why prospective voucher applicants were denied, we open a path towards
systemic reforms that are data driven.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Ninety days after becoming law.
