Forest Hills Landlord Among Those Targeted In Section 8 Lawsuit

FOREST HILLS, NY — A Forest Hills landlord and owner of a one-bedroom apartment on 113th Street is along 88 landlords and property management company that are named in a lawsuit alleging discrimination against renters who have Section 8 housing vouchers.

Ray-Hwa Lin and Jane H. Tseng are named in the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in federal court in Manhattan. The suit was brought by Housing Rights Initiative, a watchdog group that targeted rental property companies and others who have kept those with the vouchers from moving into available rental units around New York City.

The group secretly recorded phone calls nearly 500 calls that were secretly recorded with property management companies who engaged in conversations with callers from the group posing as prospective renters. In each case, the callers — inquiring about apartments — were told that the property management company and landlords do not accept the housing vouchers, otherwise known as Section 8.

The effort by the watchdog group included 477 recorded phone calls involving property that appeared to be reasonable, the New York Times reported. The group built a profile of a prospective renter – in many cases a working-class mother with good credit.

The lawsuit stated that the phone calls normally lasted several minutes, but that the calls typically ended as soon as any mention was made of the vouchers. In many cases, the representatives hung up on the potential renter.

The lawsuit said that more than 125,000 families in New York City rely on Section 8, which is a federally funded program that provides $22 million to families in need to assist with rental costs. The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages and seeks for the discriminatory behavior to stop.

Among those listed in the lawsuit is Winzone, an agency that the lawsuit alleges represents the owners of the Forest Park unit. When contacted last February, the representative spoke to the caller about the 113th Street unit, which was listed on Street Easy as a one-bedroom apartment that was listed for $1,800 per month, according to the lawsuit. The representative did not identify herself by name when called, but when the caller inquired about Section 8 vouchers, the representative from Winzone stated, “No, we don’t accept Section 8.”

When the caller asked why Section 8 applicants weren’t accepted, the representative stated that “the owner, the landlord has (had) a very bad experience with a Section 8 customer. They pay for one year and then they don’t pay anymore.”

The representative added, “There’s no way we can do anything.”

Aaron Carr, the founder and executive director of the Housing Rights Initiative” told the New York Times that the goal of the effort to target the discriminatory action was simple.

“It’s to get real estate companies to abandon their discriminatory housing practices and follow the damn law,” Carr told The Times. “They are the gatekeepers of housing and they get to decide where families live, where they work and where children go to school. Housing discrimination goes beyond the walls of housing.”

The Times reported Monday that The New York City Housing Authority has a wait list of more than 36,000 applicants for Section 8 services. According to the report, those who are eligible for Section 8 typically pay for 30 percent of their income in rent while the voucher covers the remainder of the rent as well as utilities.

More than 80 percent of New Yorkers who use housing vouchers are Black and Hispanic, but the investigation found discrimination was most prevalent in higher-income, majority-white neighborhoods, Carr said Monday.

"When you discriminate against tenants with rental assistance, you discriminate against tenants of color," Carr said in a news conference Monday.

Patch editor Nick Garber contributed to this report.