Press Room

Just following the release of the 2022 Worst Landlord Watchlist, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams will advance the second piece of legislation in his Worst Landlord Accountability Act to combat the practices of some of the worst landlords in New York City and support tenants in need of relief and repairs. During today’s City Council Stated Meeting, he will re-introduce Intro 862, which would require the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to more quickly respond to and perform inspections of hazardous violations. This year’s Worst Landlord Watchlist had the most violations in the history of the list, including thousands of immediately hazardous violations in hundreds of buildings around the city.

“Yesterday, we named, shamed, and spotlighted the worst landlords in our city – and the most violations in the history of the list,” sad Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. “Today, I’m eager to take another step forward in holding bad actors accountable legislatively. The Worst Landlord Accountability Act is about preventing landlords from evading consequences and protecting their tenants from conditions which are physically unsafe or otherwise insecure. Moving these bills forward must come with additional resources for city agencies to meet the requirements of the legislation and the responsibility to improve conditions and prevent the worst landlords from continuing these patterns of negligence as the cost of doing business.”

Today, tenants can wait for excessive periods of time while struggling with immediately hazardous violations like lack of heat and hot water. Under this new legislation, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development would be required to communicate with a complainant reporting Class C violations within 12 hours, and perform an inspection, if warranted, within 24 hours. HPD would also have to communicate regarding Class B violations within 24 hours, and perform an inspection within 48 hours. No violation can be closed until it has been certified to be corrected to the satisfaction of HPD. This new and clear timeline would both protect tenants and pressure landlords, deterring the egregious negligence happening in hundreds of buildings across the city and displayed yesterday in Washington Heights.

The 2022 Worst Landlord Watchlist included a record-breaking number of violations; across the entire list, there were a staggering 69,018 violations, nearly a 30% increase from the previous year. The worst landlord in New York City this year, Jonathan Santana, had an average of 2980 HPD open violations – 106% more average violations on average than last year. The landlords on this year’s list had a combined 18,305 Class C violations, and 36,960 Class B violations, whereas last year’s one hundred worst landlords had 13,103 Class C violations and 30,549 Class B violations.

The Public Advocate has also advanced Intro 583, the second component of the Worst Landlord Accountability Act, with the City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings holding a hearing last week on the legislation. Intro 583 would require HPD to maintain a certification of correction list and prohibit any listed landlord from certifying correction of violations in multiple dwellings without an inspection. This would prevent landlords already identified as bad actors from falsely claiming repairs have been made. At last week’s hearing, Public Advocate Williams spoke out in support of Intro 583, saying, “​​As we soon move into the new year, it is critical that we take swift action to hold the worst landlords accountable. We need to invest the resources to stop them from handling these violations and fines as negligible, or the cost of doing business, and combat the notion that making profit is much more vital than their own tenants.”

The bill would also increase penalties for failure to correctly certify. A landlord who fails to file a statement of registration or an amendment of a statement of registration will have to pay a fine of anywhere between $500 and $1,000. Anyone willfully making a false certification of correction of a violation will have to pay between $500 and $2,500 for each violation falsely certified, as well as any other penalties required. Additionally, penalties would increase for hazardous violation of housing standards based on severity.

Each year, the Public Advocate's office releases the Worst Landlord Watchlist, which spotlights the top 100 most egregiously negligent landlords in New York City as determined by widespread and repeated violations in buildings on the list. The 2022 list was released yesterday – read it, and review the newly designed and expanded Watchlist website, here.

Read the text of Intro 862 here and more about Intro 583 here.

After New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams unveiled the 2022 Worst Landlord Watchlist this morning at a Washington Heights rally and tour of one of the worst landlord’s properties, local elected leaders and housing organizations expressed outrage at the conduct of the landlords and called for reforms. The annual Worst Landlord Watchlist spotlights the 100 most egregiously negligent landlords in the city as determined by conditions at their buildings. This year’s worst landlord, Johnathan Santana, had the most average violations of anyone in the history of the list.

“Across the city, housing costs are up and housing quality is down. Rents are becoming unaffordable and conditions are becoming unlivable,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams in releasing the list. “The only explanation for this is that landlords are putting profits over people, and prioritizing circumventing or repealing housing laws rather than following them. To combat both the specific conditions that threaten the well-being of tenants in these buildings and the overall trends that deepen this citywide crisis, we need to meet this crisis with strong regulations and real consequences. That means the city needs to dismiss disingenuous arguments from bad actors, and invest more resources for enforcement, not cut what we have.”

This year’s list found housing violations are at the highest levels in the history of the list, with conditions continuing to decline even as the median rent in the city has massively increased in recent years. Across the 2022 list, there were a staggering 69,018 violations, nearly a 30% increase from the previous year. At the same time, median rent for one bedroom apartments has skyrocketed by about the same percentage. New York City has risen to become the most expensive city in the world.

Senator Robert Jackson said, "Too often tenants living in rent-stabilized, rent-controlled, and public housing apartments — are left with little to no recourse while living with broken stoves, no heat, massive holes in the ceiling, and rodents. Landlords often ignore requests to resolve these issues quickly and transparently. As elected officials, we must continue to find ways to prevent landlords from evading accountability and protect tenants from physically unsafe or otherwise insecure conditions. Thanks to the Office of the Public Advocate, the city has a tool in the Worst Landlord Watchlist that enables tenants, public officials, advocates, and other concerned individuals to identify residential property owners who consistently break City laws. Today, I stand with our Public Advocate in our fight to protect tenant’s rights to dignified and safe housing because families in New York City deserve better, and housing is a human right!"

Senator Cordell Cleare said, "I commend Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for his steadfast and proactive work to ensure that every single New Yorker has safe, decent, permanent and affordable housing as a basic human right. As this list is released today we are reminded that the old ways of building and sustaining quality housing for all continue to fail in this essential mission. Having just hosted a major housing forum entitled "The Intersection Of Housing & Race | A Look At The History Of Segregation And Its Impact On Black Communities Then And Now" I look forward to developing a series of new initiatives, in partnership with the Public Advocate, that will provide housing as a right, and make lists like this obsolete."

Assembly Member Al Taylor said, "Too many New Yorkers have suffered at the hands of negligent landlords who continue to profit while their buildings fall into disrepair. Thanks to the Office of the Public Advocate's Worst Landlord Watchlist, our city has more tools to identify law-breaking property owners and protect vulnerable New Yorkers. All tenants deserve safe, dignified housing free from fear, abuse, and hazardous living conditions. We need meaningful reforms to ensure tenants are protected and bad landlords can no longer evade responsibility for their deeds. Today and every day I stand with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in the fight to defend the rights of tenants and hold bad landlords accountable. Housing is a human right!"

Assembly Member Manny De Los Santos said “The message is clear. Landlords have the responsibility to maintain their properties for their renters in both the private and public sector. But, far too often, landlords in my district and throughout New York City do not treat tenants with the dignity and respect that everyone is entitled to. And, we are sick of it. I applaud Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for putting together the NYC Worst Landlord List which continues to shed light on this matter and empower tenants and public officials to hold unscrupulous property owners accountable.”

Council Member Carmen De La Rosa said “With a housing crisis that has only been exasperated in the last few years, the unethical practices of unscrupulous landlords has put our city’s tenants in unsafe living conditions with little recourse. This is a business of people. New Yorkers deserve dignified housing, and we will continue to enforce protections and call out those who are not in the business for the right reasons.”

Council Member Shaun Abreu said “Predatory landlords need to be named and shamed. While New York’s worst landlords profit from the lucrative real-estate market, their properties average hundreds and sometimes thousands of violations a year. Frequently, their tenants don’t have the heat they need, clean water to drink, or an unlivable amount of mold and dirt in their building. As a tenants rights attorney, I know what it’s like to fight a landlord who refuses to change. Today, we’re standing in our roles as elected officials to call out landlords who refuse to do the decent, legally required work to keep their buildings habitable for their tenants.”

Frank Lang, Deputy Executive Director for Housing at St. Nicks Alliance, said "St Nicks Alliance thanks the office of NYC Public Advocate for releasing the list of the 100 worst landlords. St Nicks Alliance stands with tenants that suffer from harassment, lack of repairs and are at risk of eviction. Our message to tenants is: You are not alone, we are here to help.”

Whitney Hu, Director of Civic Engagement & Research for Churches United for Fair Housing, said “Another year, another reminder that New Yorkers are being subjected to atrocious living conditions because of blatant neglect from their landlords. CUFFH is proud to stand with Public Advocate Williams and his office for their continual work to shine a light on these landlords through their Worst Landlords Watchlist and portal. Every New Yorker deserves safe, affordable housing and we’ll continue to work alongside the Public Advocate to make this vision come true.”

At the launch, the Public Advocate also directed New Yorkers to LandlordWatchlist.com, as well his office’s Text Line, 833-933-1692, to learn about whether their landlords are featured on the list, how to report violations, and access resources for tenants to organize and seek relief

Private landlords on the Worst Landlord Watchlist are ranked objectively according to data obtained by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Landlords are ranked based on the average number of housing code violations open per month on their buildings on the watchlist, using data from December 2020 to November 2021.

View the full Worst Landlord Watchlist, and check to see if your address is owned by a 2021 worst landlord, by visiting LandlordWatchlist.com.

As crime and public safety continue to be top issues on the minds of New Yorkers and people across the country, The Nation has published an op-ed by Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams entitled When It Comes to Crime, the Left Has a Messaging Problem, which examines the challenges progressives have in combatting false conservative framings of crime, and in presenting public safety policies in a way that resonates with constituents, avoids demonization, and helps deliver real change.

In the piece, the Public Advocate points to the success of conservative messaging in New York during the 2022 midterms and argues that "It’s not enough for progressives to reject these narratives or refute these falsehoods. Under the overblown rhetoric is a real increase in crime. Under the disingenuous fearmongering is real fear. Under the statements and statistics are real individuals and families facing pain and loss as a result of violence in their neighborhoods. Too often, progressives are characterized as not caring about that pain, because, too often, progressives are quick to minimize the realities of crime and violence because of the compassion inherent in progressive ideology and policy. Statistics mean nothing to victims of a crime."

He lay out the directive that "We can and must do a better job not only speaking to that pain and those fears but presenting an affirmative case for our workable, effective policies on public safety. On mental health, on gun violence, on law enforcement, on housing, and on economic issues, all of which play a role in public safety, our policies are better, but our messaging is worse.

On a personal note, he relays that "Most of my individual conversations on public safety end in agreement, but on a mass scale, our message is being distorted or drowned out in favor of louder, more emotional voices. An overreliance on our long-term ideals is not landing with people who also demand short-term solutions. This is not a call to step back from our solutions or beliefs on public safety—on the contrary, we have to lean forward."

The Public Advocate prescribes that "Speaking to fears, rather than shouting over them, will always be more effective for winning elections and creating change that the community stands behind and participates in. We can’t cede the framework of this conversation to conservatives, but we also can’t ignore its presence, prominence, or long-term effect on people’s perceptions. Instead, we find success in meeting people where they are, acknowledging their lived experiences, and presenting an affirmative alternative, not merely a defense that is eroded with each new headline sensationalizing the pain of communities."

He closes with a mission for the progressive movement, saying that "We can lead with solutions, not ideology alone, and we can do so fiercely, with equal parts conviction and compassion. The big picture matters. But so does the small picture of a loved one, surrounded by candles at a makeshift sidewalk memorial. We can look at the vast systems of injustice and oppression that need to be corrected without overlooking the pain of a family or neighborhood reeling from real threats to their safety and security."

Read the Public Advocate’s full piece below, and find it online here.

When It Comes to Crime, the Left Has a Messaging Problem

By New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams

We in progressive politics have a public safety problem.

So do those in conservative politics, to be clear—a much darker, more insidious problem. But the progressive problem on public safety is one we can solve, one we on the left must solve to meet both the country’s health and safety needs and our movement’s electoral needs.

While Democrats outperformed 2022 midterm election expectations in most of the country, the blue defenses against a red wave fell in New York. Conservatives improved their vote share in every congressional district relative to 2020, and Democrats lost four seats in the national House that would have saved the party from relinquishing control.

There are several reasons for those losses, including complacency at the top of the ticket and ineptitude by the state party. Many races in the New York City area, though, were defined by public safety and perceptions of it, with conservative outlets molding those perceptions by pushing hysterical narratives on crime. Elected officials of both parties were all too eager to accept and advance those narratives.

To be clear: While crime has increased in New York since the start of the pandemic, that is part of a national rise in violence over that period. New York City is still statistically much safer now than it was even 10 years ago, and progressive justice reforms have been shown again and again to not be a cause of this increase in crime, regardless of what tabloids and elected officials have counterfactually insisted. Hyperbolic coverage of crime have spurred voters to align with the party that has long been—erroneously—perceived as better on these issues.

At the same time, it’s not enough for progressives to reject these narratives or refute these falsehoods. Under the overblown rhetoric is a real increase in crime. Under the disingenuous fearmongering is real fear. Under the statements and statistics are real individuals and families facing pain and loss as a result of violence in their neighborhoods.

Too often, progressives are characterized as not caring about that pain, because, too often, progressives are quick to minimize the realities of crime and violence because of the compassion inherent in progressive ideology and policy. Statistics mean nothing to victims of a crime, and unfortunately mean little to people hearing the visceral, emotional stories of those victims.

But I know from experience that there are ways to talk about these issues that convince people of the benefits of progressive public safety policies, ways that recognize and respond to fears rather than dismiss or aggravate them. I’ve seen strategies find success that I believe the movement must adopt.

We can and must do a better job not only speaking to that pain and those fears but presenting an affirmative case for our workable, effective policies on public safety. On mental health, on gun violence, on law enforcement, on housing, and on economic issues, all of which play a role in public safety, our policies are better, but our messaging is worse. Most of my individual conversations on public safety end in agreement, but on a mass scale, our message is being distorted or drowned out in favor of louder, more emotional voices. An overreliance on our long-term ideals is not landing with people who also demand short-term solutions.

This is not a call to step back from our solutions or beliefs on public safety—on the contrary, we have to lean forward. Progressives have a messaging problem; conservatives have a moral and factual problem; but so-called moderates may have the worst electoral problem of all.

Getting voters to support the strategies that we know work—the public safety policies that helped make my city the safest it had been in half a century prior to the pandemic—is a challenge even when crime is down. When crime is rising, it’s even more important to stand by those values, but harder to do so—and so many people prefer to run away from their convictions and toward conservatism.

Scared to stand behind real progressive policies, even ones they purport to believe in, moderate politicians have too often presented as Republican-lite, accepting the narrative framing of conservatives and presenting their own positions as saner and more sensible versions of conservative talking points. But in a fight between real conservatives and moderates feinting toward their arguments, the real Republican wins. They certainly did in New York.

But progressive public safety messages and policies can be an electoral benefit if there is an established level of trust between the movement and the community. In 2021 in New York City, while the prevailing narrative was about the moderate policies at the top of the ticket, progressives won all down the ballot and across the five boroughs. Two of three citywide roles and record seats in the city council were won by candidates on the left. Those candidates, including myself, combined a strong vision for reimagining public safety with the confidence of their constituents that they truly understood both the struggle with crime and the solutions to address it. Speaking to fears, rather than shouting over them, will always be more effective for winning elections and creating change that the community stands behind and participates in.

We can’t cede the framework of this conversation to conservatives, but we also can’t ignore its presence, prominence, or long-term effect on people’s perceptions. Instead, we find success in meeting people where they are, acknowledging their lived experiences, and presenting an affirmative alternative, not merely a defense that is eroded with each new headline sensationalizing the pain of communities.

That kind of narrative is difficult to deconstruct, but I have found success by addressing the issue, responding to and reframing the debate rather than rejecting the validity of the concern.

The strongest strategy, then, is to message from a position of compassion and strength, demonstrating that progressive public safety policies are exactly what is needed for our constituents to both be safe and feel safe. We know what works, and it’s incumbent on us to make sure that the people we serve know that as well, no matter what detractors will say.

Instead of running from the conversation on crime or, worse, fueling the disingenuous narratives Republicans created, Democrats can run on models of public safety proven to build safer communities. We can lead with solutions, not ideology alone, and we can do so fiercely, with equal parts conviction and compassion.

The big picture matters. But so does the small picture of a loved one, surrounded by candles at a makeshift sidewalk memorial. We can look at the vast systems of injustice and oppression that need to be corrected without overlooking the pain of a family or neighborhood reeling from real threats to their safety and security. We can create systems that are safer and more just at the same time. We can call out the lies and manipulations of those on the right, while recognizing and responding to the real fears of those in the middle. We can be right, without conceding the narrative to the right. And we can win on progressive public safety—at the ballot box, and on the safer streets of the communities we serve.

Just two days after the most recent death of an incarcerated person on Rikers Island, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams emphasized the need for rapid change at the complex. At a hearing of the Committee on Criminal Justice, he lamented the current conditions in the complex, and advocated for taking new and different approaches to protect New Yorkers on and off the island. Nineteen people have lost their lives in city custody this year, already three more than the previously unprecedented crisis in 2021 and more than any year since 2013, when the jail population was twice as large.

The Public Advocate described the deteriorating and dangerous conditions on Rikers Island, including, “crumbling infrastructure, a lack of staff, fights and assaults, slashings and stabbings, missed medical and court appointments, doors that do not lock, frequent overdoses, and nineteen deaths so far this year,” despite the fact that the jail has the highest corrections officer to incarcerated person ratio in the country and it costs over $556,539 to incarcerate a single individual for a year. New York City also forces excessively long wait times on those charged with crimes: New Yorkers wait three to four times longer for a fair trial than the average American.

He also spoke about the city’s seeming inability to improve conditions in a way that strengthens safety for people on both sides of the bars, arguing that “We have spent enough time waiting for the federal monitor to improve the conditions at Rikers Island. It is time to explore other measures, including whether a federal receivership of the jail is necessary to end the cycle of violence and death…The threat of receivership should push us to take this as a final, critical moment for change. It should not be viewed as keeping the status quo, as we know that that does not work, and it should not mean the city should stop collaborating to figure out what is needed to make our jails humane and respectful of the dignity of those incarcerated in them.”

Public Advocate Williams is the sponsor of Intro 549, the most comprehensive and concrete legislative effort to end the practice of solitary, which the United Nations defines as torture, on a citywide level. The bill has supermajority support in the City Council.

Read the Public Advocate’ full comments from today’s hearing below.

STATEMENT OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS

TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

DECEMBER 13, 2022

Good afternoon,

My name is Jumaane D. Williams and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. Thanks again to the Chair and the members of the Committee for holding this important hearing and allowing me to speak.

In 2011, a group of people incarcerated at Rikers by the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) filed a lawsuit—Nunez, et al. v. City of New York, et al., or just “Nunez”—in the District Court for the Southern District of New York. They alleged that correction officers often took incarcerated people into areas of the jail that were out of view of video cameras and beat them, resulting in injuries including broken bones, concussions, and other emergency conditions requiring hospitalization and surgery. To cover up the misconduct, the officers falsified records or fabricated disciplinary charges.

Four years later, this lawsuit resulted in the court-appointed federal monitor for Rikers Island, with the goal of creating a safer environment for both the incarcerated people and the staff who are there. But that clearly did not fix the dangerous and deadly environment we know Rikers to be today: the jail is plagued by crumbling infrastructure, a lack of staff, fights and assaults, slashings and stabbings, missed medical and court appointments, doors that do not lock, frequent overdoses, and, as of yesterday, nineteen deaths so far this year, with another heartbreaking one, as I mentioned, just days ago. 

Sadly, the current state of Rikers is not surprising. We do know that correction officers work in dangerous jobs because of the environment that is there, and no one is safe on that island, and they suffer from injuries because of tha, and do need time to recover. We also know, and it is clear that there are officers who are misusing sick leave. Chronic staffing shortages caused by officers abusing unlimited sick leave creates a more dangerous environment where those incarcerated cannot access services and programming and officers must rely on last-resort measures such as emergency lock-ins and solitary confinement to manage the jail population. 

Further, in October, the Legal Aid Society alleged that DOC has been tampering with intake information that is used to monitor compliance with the Nunez ruling. We do not know if this was an isolated incident or an indication of chronic falsifying of records to skirt the requirements set by the federal monitor.

Since 2015, New York City taxpayers have spent more than $18 million on the federal monitor, Steve J. Martin and his team, who have failed to reform any significant part of life at Rikers. This price tag does not include the specially created unit within DOC that provides information to the monitor and ensures compliance with his mandates. Martin has in fact argued in his most recent report that the “problems [at Rikers] are so deeply entrenched and complicated that no single person, power, or authority will be able to fix them on the rapid schedule that the gravity of the problems demand.” 

This begs the question: where do we go from here? It is clear that Rikers and DOC needs a dramatic change in its culture. Correction officers who are abusing sick leave must come back to work, and we need a concrete plan from Commissioner Molina and DOC leadership to hold accountable officers that abuse sick leave, falsify records, and use excessive force. We must end harmful practices that make jails less safe, including and especially solitary confinement. And the city as a whole must commit to further decarceration, moving from historically punitive approaches to justice to restorative justice practices and alternatives to incarceration. We have to also get our court system to move more quickly to adjudicate cases.

We have spent enough time waiting for the federal monitor to improve the conditions at Rikers Island. We have to explore other measures, and while I haven’t decided on my opinion yet, I do think that we have to consider whether a federal receivership of the jail is necessary to end the cycle of violence and death. Last month, the court ruled that we should give Commissioner Molina more time to implement his plan for the jail. The court will review the progress made in April, and I hope to work closely with the administration and the City Council to ensure that there is positive progress made in that time. DOC and the city must also commit to the 2027 timeline that the prior administration agreed to close the jail on Rikers Island. The threat of receivership should push us to take this as a final, critical moment for change. It should not be viewed as keeping the status quo, as we know that that does not work, and it should not mean the city should stop collaborating to figure out what is needed to make our jails humane and respectful of the dignity of those who are detained and those who work in them. We have the distinction of having less people than we did over a decade ago, a better detainee to correction officer ratio, and the most violent jail in the nation. Hopefully we can do something about it. 

Thank you.

"This time last year, the drop in temperatures and increase in travel and indoor gatherings around the holiday season contributed to a massive spike in COVID infections as the Omicron variant circulated. We cannot passively repeat the patterns of the past.

"With COVID cases again increasing, compounded with RSV and the seasonal flu, now is a moment to take additional precautions to limit spread ahead of and during the holidays. I commend state and city health officials for recommending masks – which are an important tool in preventing each of these three illnesses – in schools and other indoor public spaces. Wearing a high quality, non-cloth mask in crowded, high risk situations remains a simple, effective way for families to stay healthy ahead of and throughout the holidays. In addition, I want to strongly encourage those who have not yet done so to get the updated vaccine booster, as well as the flu shot, and recommend frequent COVID tests.

"A spike in cases, and the suffering that entails, is not inevitable. We may have to live with the realities of COVID, but that doesn’t mean ignoring it."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams spoke out today in support of legislation which would prohibit housing discrimination against New Yorkers with arrest or criminal records. During a hearing of the City Council Committee on Civil and Human Rights, he argued in favor of Intro 632, a landmark bill sponsored by Council Member Keith Powers which would ban housing providers from asking about arrest or conviction records or doing a criminal background check on potential tenants. The Public Advocate is a co-prime sponsor of the legislation.

"Formerly incarcerated New Yorkers deserve a fair chance – truthfully, often a first chance – and in too many areas, their past record leads to discrimination and barriers rising to interfere with re-adjusting and increase recidivism. Years ago, we passed a law to give people a Fair Chance – often a first chance – at employment, and it's past time we ensured a Fair Chance at housing,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams of the bill. “This battle is occurring in a city with growing housing and homelessness crises, which are further compounded if you are a returning resident determined to be a productive member of the city. I’m proud to co-sponsor this legislation with Council Member Powers and urge the City Council to move quickly to pass this vital protection.”

Specifically, Intro 632 would would prohibit housing discrimination in rentals, sales, leases, subleases, or occupancy agreements in New York City, on the basis of arrest record or criminal history. Landlords, owners, agents, employees, and real estate brokers would be prohibited from obtaining criminal record information at any stage in the process. This would not apply where federal, state, or local laws, rules or regulations require exclusion based on criminal history or require a criminal background check for eligibility – it also does not prohibit inquiries into the NY sex offender registry. The bill outlines a fair housing process for applicants to dispute an adverse action based on arrest record or criminal history and does not apply to two-family owner-occupied housing or rooms in owner-occupied housing.

In New York City, nearly 750,000 people have a conviction record — almost 11% of the adult population. The Fair Chance for Housing Act would ensure that past convictions and arrests cannot bar formerly incarcerated New Yorkers from accessing housing. For too long, lack of access to consistent and affordable housing has made it even more difficult for New Yorkers to re-enter and succeed in society after incarceration. The Public Advocate argued, “According to a report done by the Prison Policy Initiative, formerly incarcerated people are nearly 10 times more likely to be homeless compared to the general public. For far too long, there has been no protection for New Yorkers whose housing applications have been denied due to criminal records.”

In 2015, City Council passed the Fair Chance Act to help New Yorkers leaving incarceration procure stable jobs by “Banning the Box,” barring criminal background checks or questions about past criminal history during the hiring process. The Fair Chance for Housing Act would extend the impact of this historic legislation to housing opportunities, so that New Yorkers who have already served their time are able to find both employment and housing. Like employment, stable, quality housing is essential in limiting recidivism and promoting public safety.

The Public Advocate implored City Council to support the legislation, noting that passage of the Fair Chance for Housing Act would help to address “decades of housing inequalities that Black and Brown New Yorkers have faced.”

Read the full legislation here, and the Public Advocate’s comments below.

STATEMENT OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS

TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON

CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Good Morning. 

My name is Jumaane D. Williams and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. Thank you very much Chair Williams and members of the Committee on Civil and Human Rights for holding this hearing and allowing me the opportunity to provide a statement. 

Housing is a basic human right and should be prioritized as our City continues to face a homelessness, housing, and affordability crisis. For today’s hearing, this legislation aims to address the housing discrimination faced by formerly incarcerated people. I am proud to be a co-sponsor on Int 0632-2022.

The Fair Housing Act was enacted in 1968 making it a critical piece of legislation that prohibits discrimination against renters or homebuyers on the basis of national origin, race, religion, sex, or disability. However, this legislation does not directly prohibit discrimination of potential renters or homebuyers who have criminal records. This discriminatory practice has been taking place in New York City for years and directly impacts Black and Brown New Yorkers who are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system. Int 0632-2022, sponsored by Majority Leader Keith Powers, will prohibit housing discrimination in rentals, sales, leases, subleases, or occupancy agreements in New York City, on the basis of arrest record or criminal history. This bill addresses the collateral consequences of criminal records and stops the never-ending cycle of punishment. Formerly incarcerated New Yorkers deserve a fair chance at housing. They have continuous face barriers and discrimination in so many areas of their life which can heavily influence their integration back into society as well as cause an increase in recidivism.

Towards the end of 2020 we passed the, “Fair Chance Act 2.0” which banned employment discrimination on basis of arrest record. We must move forward and incorporate fair chances at housing for them. According to a report done by the Prison Policy Initiative, formerly incarcerated people are nearly 10 times more likely to be homeless compared to the general public. For far too long, there has been no protection for New Yorkers whose housing applications have been denied due to criminal records which shows that “right to housing” for residents have not been upheld by the Administration.

As the City continues to face the growing housing and homelessness challenges, this exacerbates the process for returning residents to fully assimilate and be their best selves. You cannot expect a returning resident to be productive and their best selves and then not allow them a place to live. 

Passing this bill will mean the start to restoring decades of housing inequalities that Black and Brown New Yorkers have faced for generations. I hope we can move forward with passing this bill as we have overwhelming support from over thirty co-sponsors along with Mayor Adams’ support. It is our duty to give them a chance, so we can all be safe. 

Thank you.

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