United Tenants of Albany to investigate housing discrimination

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A local tenants’ rights organization was selected to establish the Capital Region’s first fair housing testing and enforcement program. What does that mean? Soon the area will have an office that will investigate housing discrimination allegations.

Canyon Ryan is the executive director of the United Tenants of Albany (U.T.A.). Next month will mark 52 years of the non-profit’s involvement in tenant organizing and advocacy. 

“Right now United Tenants is essentially a professional pestering organization. We’re really good at bothering landlords and saying, ‘Hey you can’t do that’,” said Ryan.

But soon, U.T.A. will have the ability to enforce New York state human rights and federal fair housing laws, expanding its authority to hold landlords accountable if they are not in compliance with existing regulations.

“The research that we do now is on like individual players. And this is going to be much more communitywide institutional research on who the power players are, and where people live, and where they are essentially not allowed to live or told that they can’t live,” said Ryan.

Attorney General Letitia James announced the $970,000 investment to establish the Capital Region’s first fair housing testing and enforcement program. 

She released a statement that read in part: “Investing in fair housing testing programs ensures we can create greater fair housing opportunities, protect tenants statewide, and hold landlords accountable. The new program supported by these grants will allow for an expansion of accessible and affordable housing across the Capital Region and help more New Yorkers find a place to call home.”

$520,000 will be allocated to U.T.A. over two years. “It really changes the game in terms of us being able to force landlords to do what they’re expected to do,” said Ryan. 

The Fair Housing Justice Center (F.H.J.C.), based in New York City, is one of six existing testing and enforcement programs throughout the state. 

“Fair housing laws were passed many decades ago and the problem is many of them have not been vigorously enforced. And to enforce fair housing laws often requires the use of an investigative technique known as testing and all six fair housing organizations have this testing capacity,” said National Field Consultant for F.H.J.C. Fred Freiberg.

F.H.J.C. will receive $450,000 from the Attorney General’s Office to coach U.T.A. through the process.

“Establishing a full-service fair housing organization that can receive complaints of discrimination and also test in response to those complaints or conduct proactive investigation into housing discrimination,” said Freiberg. “Testing is a great tool to be able to document discrimination that persists in the housing market and the fact that this tool has not been available in the Capital Region is really a shame and we need to change that.”

He is providing a team of experts who will work directly with Ryan to develop the program. Freiberg said the center has a stellar track record, filing over 160 lawsuits since its 2005 inception, losing only one case. 

“We know how to prevail in these cases. We know how to get the evidence. We’re gonna be showing them how to do investigations. How to do intake. How to eventually bring in enforcement action, whether it’s through the administrative agencies or through the courts, and hopefully help clients actually succeed in obtaining housing that they were previously denied,” said Freiberg.

Ryan is in the process of writing job descriptions for a fair housing enforcement manager, test coordinators and a new intake coordinator to field complaints.

“What the housing industry overall can expect is that once this program is up and running there will be people sent out into the market to investigate housing discrimination, and where discrimination is found enforcement actions can be taken,” said Freiberg. “This will not be business as usual in the Albany area. There will now be a watchdog organization able to actually utilize the legal process to protect people’s fair housing rights.”

Ryan expects to have a new office space that will be fully staffed by mid-April. He hopes to launch investigations come summer.

“Landlords do have responsibilities and we’re happy to help you ensure that you are complying with all the existing regulations and expectations. This is not just an investment portfolio, these are human beings and lives that are impacted by your investment decisions and what you’re willing to spend your money on and what you’re not. And often there are laws that dictate what you do need to spend your money on, especially with protected classes,” said Ryan.