NYS AG's fair housing enforcement program gets a makeover

New York Attorney General Letitia James has revamped her office’s fair housing enforcement program, increasing the size of each grant but restricting the effort to the Albany region after an earlier, statewide proposal failed to attract bidders.

The new proposal aims to launch one or two new programs in the capital region, at a total cost of up to $2.3 million. The earlier plan had envisioned up to four new programs in underserved areas across the state, with a total budget of up to $3 million. The funding comes from license fees and discrimination penalties paid by real estate agents. The remaining money can be used for anti-bias programs in future years, the attorney general's office said. 

Despite the lower overall cost of the effort, each grant is now larger than before. The attorney general is now offering up to $400,000 a year — up from the previous maximum of $250,000 — to nonprofit groups or government agencies to help them launch the new fair housing testing, enforcement and advocacy programs. The program spans a two-year period tentatively starting in January, with three potential one-year renewals after that.

The capital region is "the most populous region of the state" that does not have a full-scale fair housing program, and offering services there "would help protect families from discrimination," the attorney general’s office said last month in its request for bids. 

The funding mechanism was set up by one of nine new laws enacted in 2021 in response to Newsday’s "Long Island Divided" investigation into housing discrimination on Long Island. The three-year probe used undercover testers and found evidence of widespread discrimination against homebuyers of color.

The attorney general’s office acknowledged in September that the earlier version of the effort attracted no bids, with groups saying the funding levels and two- to three-year time frame were insufficient. 

The revamped program includes a grant of up to $250,000 over two years for an experienced fair housing agency to provide training and other services for the one or two new programs. 

The more generous grant for each new program "makes a lot of sense" and is in line with federal Department of Housing and Urban Development grants for fair housing enforcement, said Ian Wilder, executive director of Long Island Housing Services in Bohemia. Wilder said his group will not apply for the state funding because its location is too far from the capital region. Any group that launches a new program will need generous funding, he said, since it will be building discrimination cases "that could potentially go into a federal litigation, so you have to have very high quality control from the start."

Each enforcement program will include undercover testers who meet with real estate agents and others to determine whether they treat potential renters or homebuyers differently based on race, disability, family status or other characteristics. 

The attorney general's office "is committed to supporting the organizations that are working to bring fair housing programs to the regions that need it most, because housing is a basic right," James said in a statement. 

The enforcement program, she said, "was developed with input from experienced advocates and organizations and will provide the funding necessary to develop, staff, train, and launch new fair housing programs in areas not currently served by qualified fair housing organizations."

The program is funded by license fees and discrimination fines paid by real estate professionals to the New York Department of State. The agency collects $10 from agents and $30 from brokers each time they obtain or renew a license. It also can impose fines of up to $2,000 on agents who are found to have engaged in discrimination. The department has collected more than $3 million for the program, including $84,217 in penalties, spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla said last month.

The application deadline for bidders is Nov. 22. The attorney general expects to announce the results of the bidding on Dec. 10.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.