Thursday, July 9, 2015

Housing lotteries discriminatory: lawsuit

From the NY Times:

A federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday on behalf of three black residents accuses New York City of perpetuating residential segregation by reserving as many as half of the subsidized apartments planned in the city for applicants already living in the neighborhood where the units are to be built.

The city doles out new affordable housing to low- and moderate-income households through lotteries that have been drawing tens of thousands of applications in the tight housing market. Applicants must meet strict income requirements, and, in addition to income, the new buildings look for tenants with preferential status under lottery rules, including residents in the community district where the new housing will go.

City officials have said the preference helps preserve neighborhoods. But the lawsuit, filed by the New York nonprofit Anti-Discrimination Center in United States District Court, alleges that the preference also denies equal access and serves to keep racial and ethnic minorities out of mostly white areas in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and the city’s Human Rights Law.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The only white area I have ever seen was the south hunters point project that discriminated aagainst many people. In order to live there the minimum required for 3 people for a 2 bedroom was like 80k or something to that extent which also discriminates against people with only one working person in the household and a child to care for. In flushing, they were asking for very low income which was I think the maximum you can make to live there was something like 45k for a 2 bedroom with 3 people. The only thing actual "median income making 50k-65k" (one person working in the household) could apply for was to live in the rockaways three blocks away from project housing but what sane mother who has a child especially a daughter wants to live three blocks away from the projects?

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it have the same effect on everyone?

Anonymous said...

When will this shit end? When can i start getting over?

Anonymous said...

are the public school lotteries next in line for legal scrutiny ?
local pupils are kept out by them, only the elite immigrants can get seats.