Audit: New York Human Rights Division failed to properly investigate housing discrimination cases for years

Claims not properly examined, lost files and lingering investigations are some of the allegations against the New York State Division of Human Rights in a newly released audit by the New York State Comptroller's Office on Thursday.

"Tenants whose complaints were mishandled may have been left to face continued discrimination or forced to move," New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli wrote in the report.

The Division of Human Rights Housing Investigations Unit receives, reviews and prosecutes housing discrimination claims statewide.

According to state law, housing discrimination can occur when sellers, owners, landlords, brokers, or agents refuse to sell, negotiate, or lease to a person based on their age, race, income, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, disability military status or other protected class.

There were 2,236 housing discrimination complaints filed with the division between April 2019 to October 2023. Auditors reviewed 306 of those.

Outside of New York City (1,126 complaints), the largest number of these complaints were filed in the Mid-Husdon region (249) and Long Island (246).

The audit found that 68% of the complaints reviewed were never entered into the agency's computer case management system. Instead, many were found in a filing cabinet labeled the "Twilight Zone," where "defective" complaints were stored instead of being investigated further.

The report also found in nearly half of the 175 cases reviewed, division officials did not initiate the investigation or failed to notify the person accused of discrimination within 30 days as required by law. In one case, it took almost two years to serve a complaint.

Of 87 cases looked at by auditors, 70% did not include evidence that all investigation steps were completed before cases were dismissed.

Auditors also found investigators were not properly trained or supervised and improperly prioritized cases.

Andrew Smith is the deputy executive director of Westchester Residential Opportunities a fair housing nonprofit.

He said these failures allowed discrimination to continue for years and unjustly denied people their right to fair housing opportunities.

"Each one of those complaints is an individual that believes they've experienced discrimination and wants something done about it," he said.

The report comes as New York is in the midst of a housing crisis with a low number of available units, skyrocketing costs and an inability to build more places for people to live.

The report recommends the division establish adequate internal controls for handling all complaints, develop written procedures for tracking all complaints, monitor all staff, conduct ongoing reconciliations of the division's intake logs, provide adequate training for all staff and actively monitor intake and investigation procedures to ensure compliance.

According to the audit, Division of Human Rights officials generally agreed with the audit's recommendations and said the agency has made "major" changes to its executive leadership, brought on more investigators and will conduct internal audits, increase training and overhaul their case management system and intake process.

"Justice delayed is justice denied," Smith said.

A spokesperson for the division responded to the audit in a statement to News 12:

The New York State Division of Human Rights (DHR) is dedicated to eliminating discrimination, remedying injustice, and promoting equal opportunity, access, and dignity. The Division has received the report issued by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) pertaining to DHR's Housing Investigations Unit and covering that Unit's operations from April 2019 to February 2024.

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