Guide to Fair Housing
Fair Housing for All
HOW WRO CAN HELP
WRO’s Fair Housing staff is available to help you between 9 AM and 5 PM Monday through Friday. During non-business hours, your telephone message will be recorded to the Fair Housing office so they can call you back promptly.
How can WRO help you with a Fair Housing problem?
- Call 914-428-4507 for advice or an appointment if you feel you have been treated unequally by a landlord, real estate broker or salesperson, management company superintendent, property owner, or anyone involved in the sale or rental of housing.
- WRO’s Fair Housing staff will take your complaint and discuss a plan of action.
- WRO staff will investigate your complaint by visiting the site, gathering statistical information, contacting other agencies, and testing for discrimination.
- WRO will consult with attorneys who are knowledgeable about Fair Housing laws.
- If the investigation uncovers housing discrimination, WRO will provide an attorney at no direct cost to you and/or help you negotiate for the housing.
- WRO also assists in filing Fair Housing complaints with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Justice.
- The attorney will help you file a complaint in the local or New York State Division of Human Rights or argue your case in Federal or state court.
- If you win your case, there are many possible remedies. Some will
benefit you directly. Others will help promote fair housing for all
the protected classes in Westchester County, These remedies include:
- Obtaining the house or apartment
- Abatement of your rent for a specified period of time
- Obtaining a comparable housing unit
- Receiving money for actual damages (including pain and suffering) incurred by you
- Payment of punitive damages by the person or persons you sued
- Payment of attorney's fees and costs
- Requirement that the person or persons who discriminated against you participate in a fair housing educational program
- Continued monitoring of the housing practices of the person or persons found guilty of discrimination
- Setting aside apartments specifically for people in the protected classes
DON'T PANIC
If you think someone is discriminating against you:
- Stay calm.
- Quietly ask your questions again.
- Do not react angrily.
- Continue the conversation and note what is said and who is saying it,
- Call WRO as soon as possible at: 914-428-4507 or 914-428-4512 (24-hour HOTLINE)
HISTORY
There are both New York State and Federal Laws which guarantee fair housing. The first Federal Fair Housing Law was enacted in 1866. It states:
"All citizens of the United States shall have the same right, in every State and Territory, as is enjoyed by white citizens thereof to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property."
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 created five Protected Classes: race, religion, color, sex, and national origin. It is unlawful:
"To refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer, or to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin."
The Fair Housing Amendments of 1988 added two Protected Classes—family status and handicapped.
Children are now a protected class under the phrase "familial status." It is unlawful to discriminate against families with children 18 or younger.
In addition, individuals with disabilities—either physical or mental—cannot be denied housing because they are handicapped. The 1988 amendments specifically make it unlawful to refuse "to permit, at the expense of the handicapped person, reasonable modifications of existing premises occupied or to be occupied by such a person if such modifications may be necessary to afford such person full enjoyment of the premises."
In New York State, the Division of Human Rights is charged with the administration and enforcement of the Human Rights Law. The laws of the state specifically forbid discrimination in housing on the basis of race, creed (same as religion), color, national origin, sex, disability (same as handicap), marital status, and age.