Facing housing voucher bias? Here’s how the NYC Commission on Human Rights can help
- CCHR can help renters see a unit or get a lease via a pre-complaint intervention
- The commission performed 145 pre-complaint interventions in the 2023 fiscal year
It’s illegal for a landlord or broker to refuse to rent to you because you rely on a housing voucher such as CityFHEPS or Section 8.
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Finding a New York City apartment is no easy task, and those looking to rent one with a voucher face an additional hurdle: brokers and landlords who illegally discriminate against them.
You can (and should) report discrimination to the NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). And in some situations, CCHR can intervene to help find you housing, view an apartment or help with another part of the search, said Stephanie Rivera, an attorney who supervises the source of income discrimination unit at CCHR’s Law Enforcement Bureau.
“[We will] let them know that we did receive a complaint and remind them of their obligation under New York City Human Rights Law and under fair housing provisions,” Rivera said. “And then [we’ll say] here's what we can do to make this right.”
[Editor’s note: This story is part of a series exploring housing voucher programs in NYC. You can also read our stories on bias against voucher holders, how to report voucher bias, how to make sense of your voucher paperwork, how to rent an apartment with a voucher, and how agents should treat voucher holders.]
What illegal discrimination looks like
Under NYC’s Human Rights Law, it’s illegal for a landlord or broker to refuse to rent to you because you rely on a housing voucher such as CityFHEPS or Section 8, two types of government benefits that cover most or all of a tenant’s rent.
Renters say that brokers will ghost them once they reveal they have a voucher. And there are still owners and brokers who will wrongly tell a renter, outright, that they don’t accept vouchers, Rivera said.
“We’ll get text messages [from renters] where they’ve been told 'no vouchers,'” Rivera said. “We see it more in direct communications versus explicitly in an ad.”
Rivera and about a dozen CCHR staffers, plus Law Enforcement Bureau workers, respond to complaints from renters about landlords and brokers who won’t accept their vouchers—an illegal practice known as source-of-income discrimination. And they hear a lot of complaints.
CCHR received 352 reports of source-of-income discrimination in the 2023 fiscal year, which runs from July 1st, 2022 to June 30th, 2023. That’s out of 12,548 total complaints of any discrimination the commission received in that period, according to CCHR’s 2023 annual report.
The commission can issue fines and other penalties for illegal behavior, after a complaint process and administrative trial. But it can also intervene earlier to help a renter find housing, or correct a broker or landlord’s bad behavior.
CCHR intervened in 145 cases in the 2023 fiscal year—just under half of the inquiries it received. Read on for what you need to know about how to navigate CCHR’s pre-complaint intervention process.
How to report discrimination ASAP
You can report source-of-income discrimination to CCHR through the commission’s online form, by calling 212-416-0197, or by calling 311 and asking for “human rights.” (You can also contact the State Division on Human Rights, but note that the CCHR can’t take up a complaint if it was already filed elsewhere. And don’t forget to check out Brick’s best advice on voucher holder’s rights.)
Include as much evidence as possible in your complaint—such as copies of text messages, emails, or recordings of phone calls. The nonprofit Unlock NYC offers New Yorkers an online tool that can help you gather evidence, record calls, and report discrimination.
And make sure to contact the commission as soon as possible, Rivera said.
“Our best and strongest interventions happen when we are notified immediately, so that we can intervene,” Rivera said. “Immediately after the incident, if you believe that you’ve experienced discrimination, contact us as soon as possible.”
It’s best to move quickly because housing vouchers come with a set expiration date, though you can renew. On average, a pre-complaint intervention for any kind of discrimination (not just housing-related issues) took 80 days in the 2023 fiscal year, according to CCHR’s annual report, though that’s a significant improvement from the 188-day timeline in the 2022 fiscal year.
Your timeline will depend on your situation, Rivera said.
“If it’s something as simple as getting a viewing, we can resolve those fairly quickly,” Rivera said. “If it's something that involves collaborating with one of our sibling agencies, that may take a little longer.”
How the pre-complaint intervention works
Rivera’s team handles the majority of source-of-income discrimination complaints from renters who contact the commission, and says commission staffers will flag certain complaints for intervention, or those where a renter asked for help. CCHR also gets referrals from community organizations, including Unlock NYC.
Rivera tries to prioritize cases where an intervention is most needed: if a renter is homeless, if the unit they want is still available, or if their current accommodations are unsafe.
A CCHR staffer will first reach out to the renter or family, so be prepared to give the commission the evidence you collected—along with copies of your voucher paperwork—and to tell them what solution you want.
Next, CCHR will contact the broker or landlord who committed the alleged discrimination—or their bosses—Rivera said. Sometimes, just hearing from the commission is enough to get them to correct their behavior, she added.
“Some individuals are very responsive and want to resolve the issue and work with the household,” Rivera said. “Sometimes it may take a couple of phone calls, and maybe we need to escalate and talk to their head broker or whoever the supervisor is for the management company,” Rivera said.
Getting a resolution…
CCHR’s solutions range widely depending on what the renter needs, Rivera said.
“Our resolutions can look very different, and they don’t always resolve in obtaining housing,” Rivera said. “[A renter] may just want to get into a unit to view it, or get an application submitted, or they're in an emergency and need their voucher extended or renewed, so our assistance is maybe limited to supporting them and getting their voucher properly extended.”
For example, CCHR can require that a broker show a prospective renter a specific apartment, a certain number of units, or get a voucher holder an apartment if the landlord improperly denied them, Rivera said. Or CCHR might help a tenant get the keys to an apartment they’ve already rented, Rivera added.
…or doling out consequences
If a broker or landlord didn’t actually follow through with what they promised CCHR—or refused to cooperate in the first place—the commission can move onto the complaint process.
“We do get people who feel like they have not done anything wrong, or done something that violated the law, in which case that may not lead to a successful intervention for that household and will automatically move into the complaint filing and investigation process,” Rivera said.
After an investigation and complaint, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH)—the city’s administrative law court—hears the case. Then, CCHR can issue civil penalties and damages based on the OATH’s report.
But a lot of cases settle before they reach OATH, Rivera said. (CCHR’s Law Enforcement Bureau settled 33 percent of all cases, not just housing-related disputes, in the 2023 fiscal year). Those settlements always include some type of relief, such as requiring a broker or landlord to undergo special training, changes to a rental application, or even mandating that an owner set aside a certain number of units to rent to voucher-holders, Rivera said.
CCHR can also investigate complaints further through testing—where a commission worker goes undercover to see if a broker or landlord is discriminating.
“We may test individual agents and have direct communications with a tester, who will see communications that say ‘no vouchers’ or ‘working Section 8 only’—those are very common.
It’s worth noting that the commission has done far fewer tests than in pre-pandemic years. CCHR performed 31 tests in the 2023 fiscal year and received 352 inquiries into alleged discrimination. But in the 2019 fiscal year, CCHR did 245 tests, out of 485 inquiries, according to its 2019 annual report.
