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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.
From the
NY Times:
A leading provider of social services for recently released prisoners is challenging a New York City landlord that, it says, has a policy of not renting to people with criminal records.
The social services group, the Fortune Society, filed a lawsuit on Thursday in federal court contending that such bans were illegal because they disproportionately affect black and Latino men, and that such disparate impact was in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and New York State law.
The lawsuit was brought against the owners and manager of the Sand Castle, a rental complex in Far Rockaway, Queens, with more than 900 apartments. The suit is one of the latest efforts in a nationwide push to make it easier to integrate people emerging from prisons back into their communities.
Concern over legal restrictions that hinder former prisoners’ efforts to find jobs and homes, long voiced by advocates of criminal justice reform, has taken on a broader urgency in recent years. Faced with stark fiscal pressures and rising criticism, many state governments have been rethinking practices that led to record levels of incarceration. Nationwide, about 700,000 people a year are currently being released from prison.
Some states and cities have passed laws prohibiting employers from asking about criminal histories during the initial round of a job application. In New York City, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed an executive order in 2011 banning questions about criminal histories by city agencies until the second job interview, and limiting the use of any criminal record that was disclosed.
But housing is a newer front.
From
CBS New York:
A federal judge has ruled in a housing discrimination lawsuit against the Village of Garden City.
The judge ruled that Garden City violated the Fair Housing Act. WCBS 880′s Sophia Hall said.
The plaintiffs in the case, a group called ‘Communities For Change’ argued that the decision to adopt zoning for single-family and town homes instead of multifamily housing made affordable housing economically unfeasible.
Ninety-three percent of Garden City’s residents are white.
The judge said that Garden City has to set aside 10 percent of future multifamily developments for affordable housing. The village has 30 days to appeal the decision.
A village spokesperson said that zoning changes were not enacted with discriminatory intent.
From
The Real Deal:
Housing advocates said they will seek punitive damages in federal district court against a Queens landlord who allegedly refused to rent to African-Americans.
Vyacheslav Uvaydov, the owner of a house at 71-04 171st Street in Fresh Meadows, allegedly told a tester posing as a potential renter that "he lived in a white neighborhood and there would be complaints if he rented to a black person," according to a charge of discrimination issued by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development August 17.
HUD found "reasonable cause" that Uvaydov had violated the Fair Housing Act by making discriminatory statements, according to documents issued by the department. The charge comes after an investigation of complaints filed by non-profit organizations National Fair Housing Alliance and Long Island Housing Services, which dispatched a "tester" to contact Uvaydov in August of 2007 after receiving a tip from an anonymous caller who had attempted to rent from him.
