The Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) and the New York City Commission on Human Rights (Commission) have just made a groundbreaking settlement agreement with the operators of 6,000 rental apartments in the Bronx.
The settlement resolves FHJC’s claims of source of income discrimination against Respondents Parkchester Preservation Company, LP, and Parkchester Preservation Management LLC who own and manage rental apartments at the Parkchester housing development in the Bronx. The complex has 171 buildings with over 12,000 apartments including almost 30,000 residents.
Originally filed by the FHJC with the Commission in 2016, the complaint was based on a year-long FHJC testing investigation which revealed that the Respondents maintained and enforced an income requirement for rental applicants which excluded renters with housing subsidies for their rent. Housing providers in New York City are required to accept Rental vouchers are a lawful source of income protected under the New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law.
The Commission joined with FHJC’s complaint by filing its own systemic discrimination complaint. The respondents' dismissal motions were denied, and Parkchester agreed to eliminate its minimum income requirement and rent at least 850 apartments to applicants with rental subsidies. They also agreed to pay damages and, as needed, rent apartments to eight individual renters with complaints filed at the Commission. In addition, Respondents agreed five years to:
- Not apply credit score, credit history requirements, employment, or housing history requirements to any applicant using rental assistance.
- Change its advertising, website, recorded phone messages, and internal policies to include the no-minimum-income-requirement policy.
- Modify application forms and application processes to comply with fair housing laws.
- Fair housing training for Parkchester staff.
- Recordkeeping and monitoring by the Commission and FHJC of Parkchester’s compliance with the agreement.
They also agreed to pay over $2.2 million dollars in a civil penalty, damages, and attorneys fees. The Commission approved the final agreement on August 21st. The FHJC settlement can be read HERE.
FHJC was represented by Diane L. Houk, Vivake Prasad, and Eric Abrams of the law firm of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LP. The FHJC’s investigation in this case was supported with funding from a Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI) grant received from the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
