Keep fighting for Long Island in 2020 
A year of fighting housing discrimination!
Our job is to fight housing discrimination every day. I just wanted to give you a sneak peak of Long Island Housing Services’ 2019 annual report to see how we work.
Investigating Complaints
As reported in Newsday,
“Nonprofits like Long Island Housing Services … investigate 70 percent of housing discrimination complaints in the United States.
That’s followed by state agencies at 24 percent and HUD at 5 percent. The federal Department of Justice investigate the small remainder.”
In this past year, Long Island Housing Services investigated housing discrimination complaints for ninety-three (93) clients.
Obtaining remediation
Of the cases that we were able to move forward with, we were able to obtain a remedy in eleven (11) cases.
Four cases were for disability discrimination; three were regarding familial status discrimination; two were for source of income discrimination; one was for race and national origin discrimination; and one was for race and familial status discrimination.
Filing housing discrimination complaints
For the remaining clients that we could not obtain immediate remediation, we filed nine (9) complaints.
Five complaints were for disability discrimination; two were for source of income discrimination; one was for familial status discrimination; and one was for marital status discrimination.
You can personally underwrite the cost of investigating and filing Fair Housing complaints by donating to Long Island Housing Services to keep fighting housing discrimination on Long Island year-round.
We can’t slow down now
In order to more effectively fight housing discrimination, Newsday has called for increased funding from HUD and New York State for nonprofits like Long Island Housing Services to enforce the fair housing laws through paired testing.
But we can’t afford to wait for government to act!
An even more serious issue than insufficient funding to fight segregation are the gaps in funding which already exist. An upcoming funding gap means that as of February 15, 2020 Long Island Housing services will have to . . .
decrease our Fair Housing enforcement.
We depend on an annual HUD grant to underwrite the cost of investigating and filing Fair Housing complaints. Our grant ends on February 14, 2020. And the new grant application has not been announced despite the funds having already being allocated by Congress. Even if the application were issued today, the new grant would not come in until mid-2020, leaving LIHS with a funding gap that stretches over at least several months.
Please donate to Long island Housing Services to keep fighting housing discrimination year-round.
Our cases in the news
- Plaintiffs seek putative class action against property manager, The Real Deal, March 26, 2019
- Lawsuit claims property owner discriminates against disabled, minority renters, News12, March 22, 2019
- Housing discrimination suit seeks class-action status, Newsday, March 22, 2019
- New York Credit Union Settles Civil Rights Complaint, Credit Union Times, July 19, 2018
- Suffolk FCU reaches settlement in discrimination suit, Credit Union Journal, July 16 2018
- Suffolk Federal Credit Union settles lending discrimination suit, News 12, July 17, 2018
- Suffolk Federal Credit Union settles bias complaint, offers subsidies, Newsday, July 16, 2018
If you believe that you have been discriminated against in seeking housing, please call Long Island Housing Services at 631-567-5111 ext. 375 to speak to a trained Fair Housing Investigator or Advocate or email info@LIFairHousing.org.
Si usted cree que ha sido discriminado al buscar vivienda, llame a Long Island Housing Services al 631-567-5111 ext. 378 para hablar con un investigador o defensor de vivienda justa capacitado. También puede enviar un correo electrónico a info@LIFairHousing.org.
About Long Island Housing Services
Founded in 1969, Long Island Housing Services, Inc. (www.LIFairHousing.org) is a private, nonprofit HUD-qualified Fair Housing Enforcement Organization and a federally certified, approved Housing Counseling agency. LIHS’ mission is the elimination of unlawful housing discrimination and promotion of decent and affordable housing through advocacy and education.
Why should I support Long Island Housing Services?
In recent years, Long Island Housing Services has won more victories for Long Island families by stopping government abuse of minority tenants in Mastic Beach and wiping out vestiges of Nazi Era prejudice in Yaphank, and fighting the sexual harassment of minors in Patchogue.
Charitable Information
A copy of our most recently filed financial report is available from the Charities Registry on the New York State Attorney General’s website (www.charitiesnys.com) or, upon request, by contacting the New York State Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10005, or us at 640 Johnson Avenue, Suite 8, Bohemia, NY 11716 or www.LIFairHousing.org. You also may obtain information on charitable organizations from the New York State Office of the Attorney General at www.charitiesnys.com or (212) 416-8401.
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