Community Forum on Housing

On Tuesday, December 19, the Partnership for the Homeless, Vocal-NY, and Neighbors Together launched the first in a series of community forums on housing.

The event focused on source of income discrimination (SID) whereby landlords and real estate brokers discriminate against tenants who plan to use government subsidies to pay rent. As a result, many people are denied housing and forced to live in shelters for months, and even years, at a time.

Denying housing on the basis of lawful sources of income, which includes vouchers such as Section 8, LINC, SEPS, FEPS, VASH etc., was declared illegal in 2008 when it was included in the New York City Human Rights Law.  Yet the majority of those who attended our forum (and likely many more in the community) had personally experienced SID and asked us how the practice is allowed to continue. The answer is that landlords are not being held accountable for breaking the law and violating their human rights.

To bring these perpetrators to justice, we created our own reporting mechanism that is available online at www.stopsidnyc.com. If a resident suspects that they have been denied housing because they possess a voucher, they can submit the details of their experience and help us build legal cases to punish the offenders.  Participants were excited about using the new tool, saying it was necessary and committed to telling their family, friends, and neighbors about how to join the fight against SID.

We believe the solution to housing issues starts with mobilizing the community to action. That is why the Partnership created the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) in 2016. LDI works with community members to train them as activists and provide the tools they need to become effective advocates on the issues that affect them every day.

For more information on LDI and upcoming events, please contact Joel Gil, Community Organizer, at jgil@pfth.org or (718) 875-0027 x 227.