Long Island real estate agent, landlord settle Section 8 discrimination claims

Long Island Housing Services said it has reached two separate settlements with a real estate agent in Huntington and the owner of a single-family home in Holbrook, alleging they turned away potential renters who tried to use Section 8 housing vouchers.

The settlements of administrative complaints filed with the state Division of Human Rights are the latest examples documented by the nonprofit fair housing agency. They show how difficult it can be for individuals using government housing subsidies to find a place to live, said Ian Wilder, executive director of the Long Island Housing Services.

Both settlements involved alleged source of income discrimination in which a housing provider, such as an agent or landlord, declines to accept a lawful source of income to pay rent, which could include a Section 8 housing choice voucher or disability income.

Since 2020, Long Island Housing Services has settled 34 complaints related to source of income discrimination. Last week, the state Division of Human Rights announced a $16,500 settlement with a Baldwin real estate brokerage and a landlord tied to the same legal protections.

“In a market where it’s already difficult to find and get housing because we are short on housing, this just throws up another barrier,” Wilder said.

In the first LIHS settlement, Justine Nerzig, an agent at Howard Hanna Coach Realtors in Huntington, allegedly told fair housing testers posing as renters that they could not use Section 8 vouchers or Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers to pay rent. Nerzig and Howard Hanna Coach agreed to pay $7,000 to settle the complaint.

Nerzig and Howard Hanna Coach Realtors did not respond to requests for comment.

Nerzig allegedly told LIHS’ fair housing testers that the landlord she represented, who was seeking a tenant for a house in Huntington Station, did not have approval from the Town of Huntington to rent to voucher holders.

Municipalities require property owners to obtain rental permits but no Long Island municipality requires a separate permit to rent to someone using a housing voucher to pay their rent, Wilder said.

However, landlords seeking to rent properties to Section 8 voucher holders must have their property inspected by the public housing authority that issued the voucher, according to federal guidelines. 

As part of the settlement, Howard Hanna Coach agreed to provide free brokerage services to four Long Islanders who were searching for housing using government housing subsidies.

Agents and landlords have an obligation to adhere to fair housing laws, said Hempstead civil rights attorney Frederick K. Brewington, who has represented clients who have faced housing discrimination.

“In this situation, it’s putting a greater crunch on individuals that are already potentially subject to the abuses that society levels on people that are lower income,” he said.

Holbrook owner settles

In a separate settlement, a Holbrook landlord renting a single-family house agreed to pay $7,500 to settle a complaint filed by LIHS.

The nonprofit said it received a complaint in 2021 that the owner, Keith Goehring, and his girlfriend, Wendy Levine, had declined to rent the house to a woman who planned to use a Section 8 voucher to pay rent.

A subsequent LIHS investigation that year documented evidence that Levine said she wouldn’t rent the three-bedroom house to fair housing testers posing as Section 8 voucher holders. She also said it wasn’t a good house for small children, which LIHS alleged that also represented discrimination based on familial status.

Reached by phone on Monday, Levine said she regretted making the comments and did so because she thought Goehring needed to already belong to the Section 8 program to accept the tenants. She said she thought the house wouldn't have passed an inspection to join such a program.

“It has nothing to do with Keith,” Levine said. “It was me who said it because I did not know the law."

Levine said she wished there had been an opportunity to learn about fair housing laws and pay a fine before LIHS filed its complaint, which cost the couple more than $20,000 in legal fees, including attorney fees and monetary damages.

“We’re not discriminating against Section 8 housing,” she said. “We just didn’t know, and that ‘didn’t know’ cost $20,000.”

Levine said, knowing what she does now, she would welcome a Section 8 tenant because the government guarantees it will pay a portion of their rent. Tenants are typically required to pay about 30% of their income toward rent and utilities.

Wilder said property owners must educate themselves on fair housing laws in the same way as real estate agents and mortgage bankers. He has pushed for municipalities to require landlords to adopt a fair housing policy when they receive rental permits that acknowledge they must accept all lawful sources of income

“They have a duty to understand the rules and laws,” Wilder said of landlords.

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.