Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Landlords Are Keeping Homeless People Homeless By Rejecting Their Rent Vouchers
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Dec 20, 2015
Modified Dec 20, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Nathan Tempey
Published Dec 20, 2015
Modified Dec 20, 2015
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Talk to most anyone who's been in the homeless shelter system for any extended period of time and you've heard the stories: many of the 58,000 New Yorkers in the system have had some kind of voucher to help them pay rent for months, or even longer than a year, yet have been unable to find an apartment, in large part because landlords won't accept them. This is despite a city law banning such discrimination [pdf].
The problem was most recently spotlighted by WNYC's Long Way Home series, which followed single mother of three Shakira Crawford. Crawford works, like a third of homeless adults. Despite having a LINC voucher good for $1,100 of a $1,500 rent, she has been unable in 10 months of searching to find a habitable apartment where the landlord will accept the city's money. Landlords flout the ban on source-of-income discrimination so openly that it's easy to find rental ads that explicitly spell out "no vouchers."
A recent Daily News investigation shows that it's not homeless people's imagination: city enforcement of this law really is anemic, and landlords are flouting it with near-impunity. Source-of-income discrimination was made illegal by a 2008 law pushed in part by then-councilman Bill de Blasio. Violations are punishable by fines of as much as $250,000, but the biggest fine the enforcing Human Rights Commission has imposed since it went into effect has been $20,000, and that was against a discriminating broker cleared of source-of-income violations but found guilty of marital status discrimination, the News found.
The average fine the commission handed out was just $5,441, and of 157 source-of-income cases handled in the last seven years, 97 ended with no financial penalties against the landlord or broker. All told, the tabloid found, realtors have paid just $238,398 in fines, damages, rent abatements, and reimbursements, and brought actual fines in only 34 cases. For comparison, 300,000 New Yorkers receive rent subsidies, and tales of discrimination abound.
"Why aren’t you going after those guys? We have client after client saying, 'Everyone is turning me away,'" attorney Judith Goldiner of the Legal Aid Society told the News.
Human Rights Commissioner Carmelyn Malalis told the News the commission is "aggressively" investigating voucher discrimination cases, and two months ago the agency started sending out more undercover investigators to pose as prospective renters with and without vouchers and test whether landlords and brokers are abiding by the law.
Spokesman Seth Hoy said the commission is "conducting the highest and most thorough number of investigations into voucher discrimination in years so tenants can have a roof over their heads as soon as possible." The agency reportedly opened 85 cases this year.
De Blasio created the LINC program in September 2014 as a replacement for the Advantage program discontinued by Governor Cuomo and former mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2011. Last month, DNAinfo reported that 80 percent of LINC vouchers were going unused, in part due to discrimination. Other forms of vouchers include the federal, NYCHA-administered Section 8 program. Many homeless New Yorkers who have experienced voucher discrimination say landlords don't trust the city to pay consistently.
Meanwhile, Crawford continues to raise her family in a single room at a shelter in East New York.
"The year's about to finish and I'm still here," she told WNYC. "Am I ever going to find a place?"
Tagged
affordable housing
homeless shelters
homelessness
human rights commission
landlords
linc vouchers
section 8
voucher discrimination
Nathan Tempey
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Retired NYPD detective charged with murder in George Washington Bridge shooting
Police say a Rockland County man was fatally shot during what appeared to be a road rage incident on Tuesday night.
By
Charles Lane
Published Oct 21, 2026 at 4:26 p.m. ET
Modified Oct 21, 2026 at 5:43 p.m. ET
NYPD officer faces disciplinary trial 10 years after killing Delrawn Small
Officer Wayne Isaacs will go on trial in January on a charge that he used improper force when he shot and killed Delrawn Small in East New York in July 2016.
By
Ben Feuerherd
News
NYPD officer faces disciplinary trial 10 years after killing Delrawn Small
Officer Wayne Isaacs will go on trial in January on a charge that he used improper force when he shot and killed Delrawn Small in East New York in July 2016.
By
Ben Feuerherd
NYC adult daycare operators charged with committing over $500K in Medicaid fraud
By
Caroline Lewis
Port Authority eyes $117M fix to Manhattan roadway where falling debris smashed cars
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Bronx couple starved their 3-year-old to death, indictment says
By
Catalina Gonella
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .