A HASA client and co-Plaintiff the Fair Housing Justice Center (“FHJC”) filed a federal lawsuit in April alleging that that one of the nation’s largest landlords, The LeFrak Organization, operates a segregated and discriminatory rental scheme. On Friday, Manhattan District Court Judge Denise Cote ruled that the Plaintiffs have properly stated discrimination claims against the company, and thus may proceed with their lawsuit.
Housing Works and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, LLP filed the case on behalf of the HASA client and FHJC in the spring, alleging that LeFrak’s policies violate the federal Fair Housing Act and the New York City Human Rights Law. The plaintiffs alleged that, as we reported in April:
“housing applicants who are employed are allowed to go directly to a convenient, on-site leasing office at LeFrak City, meet with a leasing agent, obtain floor plans, and view available apartments prior to having any income verified or completing a rental application. In contrast, applicants with any type of government rental assistance, including persons with a HASA rental subsidy, are required to go to a separate, off-site leasing office, speak with employees behind a glass window, complete a rental application, submit to a credit and criminal background check, and provide other documentation just to be placed on a waiting list and before any information will be provided about available apartments for rent.”
Undercover tests conducted by the FHJC, the plaintiffs further alleged, confirmed the discriminatory scheme.
On Friday, Judge Denise Cote denied LeFrak’s motion to dismiss the case, finding that the Plaintiffs properly alleged that they were “treated differently than applicants for rental properties who do not have a disability.”
“The Court rejected the Defendants’ narrow reading of the statutes in question,” said Armen H. Merjian, Senior Staff Attorney at Housing Works, “and confirmed that the federal and city human rights law indeed prohibit practices that treat folks differently based upon disability and source of income.”
The decision underscores that legal consequences may follow for landlords who discriminate in any way against applicants with HASA subsidies or other forms of governmental rental assistance.
LeFrak owns units for thousands of renters in New York, New Jersey, California, Oregon and Washington, according to its website.
The ruling comes on the heels of another Housing Works legal victory last week, when a NY State Supreme Court Justice ruled that a transgender woman could proceed with a discrimination lawsuit against the drug-treatment facility Phoenix House.
