New York Judges Rule Against Housing Voucher Recipients in Discrimination Suit

New York Attorney General Letitia James was looking for the next step in preventing discrimination against housing voucher recipients on Thursday after a New York appeals court determined there were fatal flaws in a state law designed to prohibit just that.

The New York Appellate Division’s Third Judicial Department of five upstate judges ruled against James and the Legal Aid Society, among others, in their quest to uphold a 2019 law banning housing discrimination based on source of income, particularly housing vouchers.

In the ruling, the judges acknowledged that housing vouchers are critical to preventing homelessness in the midst of a nationwide affordability crisis, but ultimately ruled that the state law had unconstitutional components.

“As a consequence of this law, landlords are now forced to consent to governmental searches of their rental properties and records,” the ruling said. “Given that, for the reasons that follow, the source-of-income discrimination law violates landlords’ Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unlawful searches, [and] we are constrained to conclude that the law is unconstitutional on its face.”

Still, James is looking for new options to prevent housing discrimination against New Yorkers using government assistance through Section 8.

“Every New Yorker deserves access to safe and dignified housing regardless of their income or background,” James said in a statement. “Housing vouchers help thousands of New Yorkers stay in their homes, make ends meet, and raise their families. My office has always fought to protect New Yorkers’ right to housing. We are reviewing today’s decision.”

The defendants in the appeal were Jason Fane’s Ithaca Renting Company, which owns Commons West, an apartment complex in Ithaca, N.Y. The company was originally taken to court in 2022.

The Fane Organization, which oversees the company’s portfolio of apartment buildings both upstate and in New York City, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.