New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Introduces A Bill To Ban Income Discrimination In Housing

It’s an election year in New York and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is up for re-election this year. He’s campaigning hard by making promises to different groups of people.

Something his primary opponent, Golden Girls: The Next Generation star Cynthia Nixon can’t do.

As a result, one of his campaign strategies seems to be to appeal to New York’s underpaid blue collar workers, seniors, and veterans.

Cuomo has introduced a bill that would outlaw housing discrimination based on the source of a resident’s income.

Cuomo’s announcement also comes on the heels of HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s push to raise rents on Section 8 recipients.

The governor is also facing criticism that he has not done enough to make New York State an affordable place to live. New York has seen its population shrink since he became governor.

Governor Andrew Cuomo claims New York landlords discriminate against renters who use Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers.

The practice allows landlords to engage in “backdoor discrimination.”

Cuomo claims landlords discriminate against minorities and female-headed households. He also clams landlords discriminate against veterans, senior citizens, and the disabled. 

Cuomo’s office states that landlords routinely reject applicants based on the source of their income.

Cuomo issued this statement:

Currently, these landlords are preventing lower-income households with Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability, veterans’ benefits, and other government subsidies or non-wage income, from accessing safe and affordable housing.

As a result, many low-income New York families are unable to find landlords who will accept their non-wage income and spend more time in shelters or in substandard housing and in concentrated areas of poverty.

The bill is also part of Cuomo’s ERASE Racism initiative.