Applicant with HIV/AIDS Can Pursue Discrimination Claim

Prospective tenant sued landlord for housing discrimination after landlord refused to rent an apartment to her. Tenant was an indigent woman with HIV/AIDS. The court denied landlord's request to dismiss the case because tenant had adequately presented discrimination claims under the federal Fair Housing Act and the NYC Human Rights Law. Tenant claimed that she was subjected to a more burdensome and delayed process and wasn't shown apartments that she could have afforded with a city subsidy.

Tenant had sought assistance from the city's HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA), which gives landlords a direct-vendor check for the first month's rent, a voucher for a security deposit, and a direct-vendor check for each month's rent on behalf of over 30,000 renters with HIV or AIDS. HASA first inspects apartments before it provides the money, but doesn't provide a letter to landlords guaranteeing it will subsidize the rent. HASA approved a subsidy for tenant. Landlord told tenant that it required a letter from HASA before renting to tenant. Landlord repeated this claim to Housing Works, which contacted landlord on tenant's behalf.  However, workers at the Fair Housing Justice Center who tested for discrimination weren't required to produce HASA letters.

The court found that the Fair Housing Justice Center had standing to sue as an organization that investigated landlord's practices. The court also held that tenant showed grounds for a claim that landlord discriminated on the basis of disability and on the basis of source of income.

L.C. and Fair Housing Justice Center v. LeFrak Organization: Index No. 13 Civ 2759 (DLC), 2013 WL 659968 (SDNY; 12/13/13; Cote, J)