What are some forms of housing discrimination on Long Island?
A major reason why so many blacks and Latinos who can afford to but do not live in areas with more racial diversity and better schools is that their housing choice continues to be limited by housing discrimination, such as the racial steering of homeseekers by real estate agents, discrimination by building management, and discrimination by lenders. As a group, real estate agents in particular hold an enormous amount of control in providing access to different housing areas, often acting as community gatekeepers by screening potential residents to determine who may enter and who may not.[1] Although differential treatment based on race or ethnicity is illegal under the federal Fair Housing Act, and most brokers are aware of these prohibitions,[2] national pair testing has confirmed significant levels of racial steering.[3] Nationally, racial steering has been identified at every stage of the home search process, from where advertisements appear[4] to linguistic profiling over the phone resulting in different information being given,[5] to the amount and locations of homes shown,[6] to quotes given and to closing costs[7].
National and local fair housing audits from the past two decades have shown that real estate agents who steer do so in surprisingly similar ways.[8] The most common forms of differential treatment are: (1) differences in the number of sales units suggested by the agents with respect to the unit asked for and other available units in a specific price range; (2) differences in the number of units shown by the agent (3) differences in the information on the availability of various types of financing; (4) differences in the information on amenities of the neighborhood in which the housing units are located (for example, the agent might mention certain privileges enjoyed by the residents of a predominantly white neighborhood to the white auditor and withhold that information from the black auditor); and (5) differences in the judged qualifications of the auditors to purchase the unit (for example, the agent might judge the black auditor's income to be too low to purchase the unit).
National fair housing investigations by HUD have revealed that racial steering by commentary is the most frequently employed mechanism of steering.[9] What is so troubling about this finding is that by the seemingly innocent act of giving some clients more "tips" than others it leads to compounded, economic effects. Real estate agents end up systematically driving minorities into lower-income neighborhoods, even when they can afford to live in higher-income neighborhoods, while discouraging white homeseekers from living in mixed race communities or communities below their income bracket. Different information given to whites encouraging them to buy homes in areas with "good" schools and discouraging them from considering neighborhood below their income bracket is likely a part of the explanation for why whites at all income levels tend not to be in areas with concentrated poverty. Blacks and Latinos, on the other hand, are often steered to areas below their income bracket and with higher levels of poverty.[10]
While racial steering is a problem throughout the U.S., it is particularly severe on Long Island given the region's lengthy history of housing discrimination and how it has influenced NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) attitudes toward racial integration. Based on ERASE Racism's analysis of fair housing enforcement on Long Island, race based complaints remains the largest basis for complaints filed from both counties, second only to complaints related to disability. For example, out of all of the fair housing discrimination complaints filed with the New York State Department of Human Rights that originated on Long Island from 2008 through 2010, the majority was against licensed real estate professionals and out of those the majority was based on race.
In 2012, ERASE Racism teamed up with the Fair Housing Justice Center to see whether black renters were being steered away from apartments in majority white communities on Long Island. Since the proportion of renters is greater for blacks and Latinos on Long Island than for whites, the absence of black and Latino renters from large apartment complexes (of which there are few since rental housing is scarce in the region[11]) would be an indicator that racial steering might be taking place. We investigated a large apartment complex in the Village of Mineola and undertook "pair testing" to see if six people posing as potential tenants were treated differently depending on their race. The tests showed that the building superintendent discouraged African Americans from renting apartments by misrepresenting the availability of apartments, not showing available apartments, quoting higher rents, and/or suggesting there could be a wait because other people were ahead of them.
On August 28, 2013, ERASE Racism, the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC), and three African American testers filed a lawsuit in federal district court (E.D.N.Y.) alleging that the owners and managers of an apartment building in the Village of Mineola discriminate against African American renters. On June 12th, the lawsuit was successfully settled. The settlement provided $165,000 in damages, attorney's fees, and costs to be divided among the plaintiffs. The settlement also provided for substantial structural changes to the rental operations at the Mineola apartment building. Accordingly, Defendant LLR Realty, LLC agreed to adopt and implement non-discrimination policies to prevent future fair housing law violations at the property.
Racial steering and other forms of housing discrimination are in violation of housing laws at the federal, state and local level. The federal Fair Housing Act was first enacted in 1968 and, as amended, prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. With leadership from ERASE Racism, similar strengthened laws took effect in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties in 2007. In addition to the classes protected by the federal Fair Housing Act, the New York State Human Rights Law and the Nassau and Suffolk County fair housing laws also prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, sexual orientation, military status, marital status and source of income. Fair housing laws, whether federal, state or county, make it illegal to discriminate because of these protected characteristics in the sale or rental of housing, in land use policies, in the administration of government housing programs, and in lending.
What is an example of a policy that perpetuates segregation?
Government-subsidized affordable housing offers the potential to desegregate Long Island, both racially and economically. However, our analysis of government-subsidized multi-unit housing projects on Long Island shows that there are little to no requirements that they be placed in high-opportunity areas or areas without an existing stock of subsidized housing. This has led to a concentration of affordable housing in predominately low-income communities of color, which perpetuates racial and economic segregation. The two types of subsidized housing that ERASE Racism has reviewed are projects supported by Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and by Section 8 Project-Based Vouchers.[12]
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program was established under the federal Tax Reform Act of 1986 to promote private sector involvement in the retention and production of rental housing that is reserved for low-income households. The LIHTC program provides a dollar-for-dollar reduction in federal income tax liability for project owners who develop rental housing that serves low-income households with incomes up to 60% of area median income. The amount of LIHTC available to project owners is directly related to the number of low-income housing units that they provide. Applicants eligible to receive allocations of LIHTC include corporations, limited liability corporations and limited partnerships—with the latter two being the most widely used ownership entities. Economic and scoring incentives are provided to encourage the participation of not-for-profit corporations in LIHTC projects.
Out of the multi-unit Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects on Long Island, more than half are located in neighborhoods that are low income and either majority black and Latino or with large concentrations of black and Latino residents [13]. Most of the neighborhoods in which the projects are located have high need and low performing school districts; the majority of the districts are ranked in the lowest quartile (worst performing) when measured by graduation rate and performance on the 8th Grade English Exam. In Nassau County, for example, half of the LIHTC projects we analyzed are located in the Village of Hempstead—a low-income, majority black and Latino community with one of the lowest performing school districts on Long Island.[14] Out of the LIHTC projects that are designated for families, more than 50% of them are located in a low performing school district. In addition to not giving Long Islanders who live in LIHTC apartments the opportunity to send their children to a high performing school district, the current stock of LIHTC projects does not meet the needs of most renting families; less than 4% of the units have 3 or more bedrooms and a majority of the rental units are one-bedroom apartments.
A review of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal's Qualified Allocation Plan, which regulates tax credits, reveals that there are no substantive incentives to place Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects in high opportunity areas. Based on the scoring criteria, a developer can gain a significant part of the 15 points for community impact and revitalization without proposing to site the housing development in a high-opportunity area. Further, a project that does not get all of the points for community impact and revitalization is not at a significant disadvantage since projects are ranked on a 100-point scoring scale. A project that does not provide for affordable housing in an area as described in (i) can still earn 95 points and receive tax credits.
The New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program is another type of affordable housing subsidy that provides rental assistance and home ownership option to extremely low, very low and low income households on Long Island. The program also provides assistance to senior citizens and disabled persons on fixed incomes, displaced families, and homeless individuals with disabilities. The regulations for the HCV Program are set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Households must meet eligibility requirements and the unit to be subsidized must meet federal Housing Quality Standards (HQS).
Our analysis of multi-unit Section 8 Project Based Vouchers on Long Island shows that they are placed in slightly less racially segregated neighborhoods than LIHTC projects; however, most of the residents are districted to low performing schools. Approximately one third of the projects are in neighborhoods with large concentrations[15] of blacks and Latinos. Approximately 68% percent of the Section 8 housing projects are located in school districts that are low performing (measured by graduation rate); additionally, a majority of the districts are high and average need. Similar to the LIHTC projects, Section 8 housing projects consist largely of one bedroom units, which is not sufficient for most families. Many of the projects are located in low-income, majority black and Latino neighborhoods, thereby perpetuating Long Island's already high levels of racial segregation.
[1] Plummer, Andrene N. "Few New Solutions to a Very Old Problem: How the Fair Housing Act Can Be Improved to Deter Discriminatory Conduct by Real Estate Brokers, A." Howard LJ 47. (2003): 163.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Turner, Margery Austin. "Housing Discrimination against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012: Executive Summary." (2013)
[4] Galster, George. 1990. "Racial Steering by Real Estate Agents: Mechanisms and Motives." Review of Black Political Economy 19 (1): 39. bth.
[5] Shuy, Roger W. Fighting over Words: language and civil law cases. New York: Oxford University Press (2008)
[6] Turner, Margery Austin. "Housing Discrimination against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012: Executive Summary." (2013)
[7] Plummer, Andrene N. "Few New Solutions to a Very Old Problem: How the Fair Housing Act Can Be Improved to Deter Discriminatory Conduct by Real Estate Brokers, A." Howard LJ 47. (2003)
[8] Roychoudhury, Canopy, and Allen C. Goodman. "Evidence of Racial Discrimination in Different Dimensions of Owner‐Occupied Housing Search." Real Estate Economics 24 (2). 1996. 161–178.
[9] Turner, Margery Austin. "Housing Discrimination against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012: Executive Summary." (2013)
[10] Ibid.
[11] The Regional Planning Association "Long Island's Rental Housing Crisis". (2013)
[12] Housing Choice Vouchers and Project Based Vouchers require the tenants to pay 30% of their income towards the rent. The HCV subsidy is tied to and "travels" with a tenant; the Project- Based Voucher subsidy is attached to a designated unit, building or complex.
[13] 19 in Nassau County and 8 in Suffolk County, based on a compilation of data obtained from the HUD LIHTC database (updated through 2013).
[14] Based on two measures—the average performance on the 8th grade English Exam and the graduation rate.
[15] Over 40% black and Latino.
