Call Governor Paterson About Two Housing Bills

Statewide Systems Advocacy Network (SSAN)
ACTION ALERT
August 9, 2010


Issue: Urge Governor Paterson to sign A.9757 and A.10689 into law!

Action: Two housing bills from the Disability Priority Agenda have been sent to the Governor for his signature. A.9757/S.7800 would incorporate the housing provisions of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act into State law. A.10689/S.7613 would make discrimination by landlords based on a tenant's source of income illegal under State Human Rights Law. Governor Paterson has until this Friday, August 13th to sign them into law or veto them. The Governor's office needs to hear from us NOW!

Call the Governor's office at 518-474-8390 and leave the following message:

"I'm calling to urge Governor Paterson to sign A.9757 and A.10689 into law immediately. These bills will help address the housing crisis for people with disabilities in New York State by ensuring we have access to accessible, affordable and integrated housing options that meet our needs."

Background:
A.9757/S.7800 would incorporate the housing provisions of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act into State law.

Housing developers often fail to comply with Section 504's requirement to set aside a certain percentage of accessible units for people with disabilities when federal dollars are used for construction. By including these requirements in State law, the Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) will be fully empowered to enforce these requirements and ensure that the State is in compliance with federal standards.

A.10689/S.7613 would make discrimination by landlords based on a tenant's source of income illegal under State Human Rights Law.

Currently, there is a lack of protection for tenants seeking housing. Landlords and realtors are allowed to openly discriminate against tenants with lawful sources of income. Programs such as Section 8, Shelter Plus, and the subsidies attached to Medicaid Waivers such as the Nursing Home Transition and Diversion (NHTD) Waiver and the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Waiver are designed to allow people to obtain affordable, accessible and integrated housing. However, these programs are impeded by the fact that landlord and realtors can reject prospective tenants simply because they do not want to work with a government program, even though that tenant would have the means to pay the rent. Many people with disabilities rely on those subsidies and other assistance programs to live independently in the community. By adding lawful source of income as a protected class into New York State Human Rights Law, individuals using government housing subsidies would have access to more units of housing.