NYS Division of Human Rights Files Fair Housing Discrimination Suit Based on WRO Probe

NEW YORK—The New York State Division of Human Rights filed a fair housing discrimination lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court on Aug. 26 against Dawn Homes Management based on a complaint filed three years earlier by White Plains-based Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc.

The fair housing complaint stems from a WRO investigation and subsequent complaint filed with DHR in 2021 that alleged Dawn Homes Management, which is headquartered in Albany, illegally discriminated on the basis of lawful source of income against individuals using housing vouchers or other rental subsidies who sought rental housing at Dawn Homes Management properties in the Hudson Valley and upstate New York.

The Division of Human Rights charged that Dawn Homes Management “engaged in discrimination based upon source of income by refusing to accept rental vouchers directly from prospective tenants, and requiring that all prospective tenants meet minimum income requirements,” according to court documents.

Dawn Homes operates apartment complexes in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, with more than 30 sites in upstate New York. WRO’s complaint was based on a multi-year testing investigation conducted by WRO of seven of Dawn Homes’ New York apartment complexes— Chelsea Ridge Apartments Wappingers Falls (Dutchess County); Village Park Apartments, Pleasant Valley (Dutchess County); Netherlands Village Apartments, Schenectady (Schenectady County); Glenmont Manor Apartments, Glenmont, (Albany County); Loudon Arms Apartments, Albany (Albany County); Maple Manor, Delmar (Albany County) and Mill Creek Apartments, East Greenbush (Rensselaer County).

Between August 2019 and May 2021, WRO “Testers” called Dawn Homes leasing agents at the seven aforementioned complexes in New York. WRO alleged that Dawn Homes applied a minimum income requirement at its New York apartment complexes that excluded virtually all applicants with rental subsidies. After WRO filed a complaint with NYS DHR, DHR undertook its own investigation of WRO’s allegations and Dawn Homes’ defenses, culminating in July 2023 in the DHR’s finding of “probable cause” in favor of WRO’s claims.

WRO’s Executive Director Marlene Zarfes thanked the NYS DHR investigators and attorneys for what she described as their careful and thorough investigation of WRO’s allegations and stated that “WRO expects to intervene in this lawsuit to pursue our claims alongside DHR and we look forward to making our case before the court.”

In its complaint filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights back in August 2021, WRO alleged that during the investigation, “when Dawn Homes’ agents were told by WRO’s testers (posing as prospective tenants) that they would be renting using housing vouchers, the agents told the testers various things, including that Dawn Homes:

• Did not accept any rental vouchers or participate in any “programs”;
• Did accept vouchers but only if the applicant met a minimum income requirement of three times the total rent;
• Sometimes the agent said the voucher amount was included as income in that calculation, sometimes it was not; in either case, the income requirement was based on the full amount of the rent, even if the rental voucher would pay most or all of the monthly rent;
• Could not rent to them, but steered them to other buildings in the area not operated by Dawn Homes; and
• Will not sign contracts with third parties to pay the rent, including rental subsidy programs.

These responses violate the letter and spirit of New York’s source of income protections, and exclude households relying on housing vouchers from housing opportunities that should be available to them.”

WRO’s Executive Director Marlene Zarfes stated when filing the complaint three years ago: “Source of income discrimination has been illegal in New York State since April 2019. New York’s Division of Human Rights has made it clear that housing providers may not have policies that have the effect of excluding holders of housing vouchers (like onerous multiples of rent income requirements), even if the policies look neutral on their face. The law also prohibits housing providers from refusing to work with voucher programs because of their administrative requirements, like apartment inspections or contractual terms required by the program administrator. Otherwise, the source of income law would be rendered meaningless.”

In a prepared statement sent to Real Estate In-Depth, Naomi Storch, Vice President of Operations and Investor Relations at Dawn Homes Management, stated: “Dawn Homes Management respectfully denies any allegations of unlawful conduct and will decline further comment until the litigation is concluded.”

WRO is represented in this matter by Diane L. Houk of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, LLP.