Bill Would Prohibit Income Discrimination

A new bill that would amend city administrative codes to prohibit landlords from discriminating against tenants based on source of income is soon expected to pass in the City Council.

The bill comes on the heels of a study released last Wednesday by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now regarding use of Section 8 vouchers, which allow low-income individuals and families to receive city subsidized housing. Of the 21 percent of New York property management companies that have apartments within Section 8 rent limits, less than half will accept these vouchers.

The study also says that New York laws, unlike those of other major cities, make it easier for landlords to reject Section 8 vouchers, as they do not explicitly prohibit discriminating tenants based on their source of income.

The pending bill would change this. "It's a piece of legislation that would bring New York City to par with other major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., which have already passed laws requiring all landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers when a tenant's income is in the appropriate range," said an ACORN representative, who requested anonymity because of organization rules forbidding comment to the press.

"It's a common sense piece of legislation which has popular support in the council and across the city."

Posing as apartment seekers, ACORN employees made 1,877 phone calls to New York property management companies, renters, and known Section 8 landlords in January, asking if any Section 8 housing was available. ACORN hoped to prove that landlords discriminate against lower-income individuals seeking Section 8 subsidized housing.

In 1,449 calls made to phone numbers listed under "Property Management" in the Yellow Pages, 28 percent of those numbers in the Bronx responded or called back. The percentages in the four other boroughs were all in the single digits. Manhattan had the lowest percentage, at 3 percent.

The disparity between landlords' responsiveness to Section 8 between the boroughs indicated to ACORN that a "de facto apartheid" was taking place, by which lower-income and minority tenants are forced to live in specific enclaves of the city.

On Jan. 29, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Housing Authority announced the availability of 22,000 new vouchers over the next two years and the reopening of the waiting list for those vouchers, an event which has not happened in 12 years.