Landlord Must Fill Vacancies with Minorities

LVT Number: 8273

Facts: The DHCR's Special Open Access Minority Participation Program (SOAMPP) was established under the Private Housing Finance Law to promote integration in Mitchell-Lama housing. In 1984, the DHCR began investigating Mitchell-Lama housing projects to determine who was complying with the program. The DHCR contacted landlord, who claimed that there was a long waiting list and no discrimination.

Facts: The DHCR's Special Open Access Minority Participation Program (SOAMPP) was established under the Private Housing Finance Law to promote integration in Mitchell-Lama housing. In 1984, the DHCR began investigating Mitchell-Lama housing projects to determine who was complying with the program. The DHCR contacted landlord, who claimed that there was a long waiting list and no discrimination. The DHCR disagreed and, after an investigation, directed landlord to canvass all applicants on its waiting list to find out who was really still waiting and to come up with a fair housing marketing plan to attract minorities. The DHCR also ordered landlord to create a minority waiting list and give two of every five vacant apartments to minorities until either the year 2001 or whenever the program goal was reached. Landlord appealed. Court: Landlord loses. The DHCR's decision was reasonable. Landlord had clearly violated the fair housing regulations. Landlord had charged a high application processing fee, maintained artificially inflated waiting lists with names of ineligible applicants, and didn't conduct annual surveys to determine who was still really waiting. Landlord also announced vacancies by word of mouth. Since very few current tenants were minorities, this effectively discouraged minority applicants. Landlord also challenged the DHCR's quota plan. The court pointed out that SOAMPP was intended to be a quota plan, created to counteract past racial discrimination by the DHCR and Mitchell-Lama companies. This wasn't unconstitutional.

Matter of Woodlawn Veterans Mutual Housing Co.: NYLJ, p. 24, col. 3 (10/15/93) (Sup. Ct. Bronx; Wilkins, J)