Newsday Calls for More Funding for Housing Discrimination Testing

The Newsday housing discrimination special investigation Long Island Divided, explains the need for more funding for the Fair Housing testing and education in the article titled The challenges facing enforcement: Little money at all levels of government for extensive testing to root out discrimination.  This is funding would go to the type of civil rights testing and education that Long Island Housing Services (LIHS) does every day to battle segregation.

An even more serious issue than insufficient funding are the gaps in funding which mean 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.

As Newsday explained the importance of fair housing enforcement by nonprofits:

“In the New York metropolitan area, experts estimate the cost of testing a landlord for rental discrimination at $2,400 per test, while testing a real estate agency for discrimination in home sales can range from $3,000 to $6,000 per test.

The cost of extensive testing is far too high for nonprofit Long Island Housing Services, Nassau and Suffolk’s leading anti-discrimination organization.

Executive director Ian Wilder said more than a decade has passed since the group conducted large-scale testing of agents and landlords, adding that the 19-person agency would need to “double our funding to bring on that kind of staff” to do the work.

Nonprofits like Long Island Housing Services and New York City’s Fair Housing Justice Center 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.” {emphasis added.)

Your donations help us cover the cost of doing this important housing discrimination  testing work every day.

Newsday gave just one example of the success of  a LIHS individual testing investigation:

“… Ben Art settled with the nonprofit Long Island Housing Services. The group said that testing had shown that the landlord was illegally refusing to rent to people who receive subsidies for people with disabilities.”
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.

Your donations make sure that we always have the resources to investigate every housing discrimination complaint that comes through our door.

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.