Fair Housing Advisory Board created in Greater Binghamton

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) — A new organization is being created to try to hold bad landlords accountable and make certain tenants are receiving the protections they deserve.

With funding from the Community Foundation of South Central New York’s Housing Trust Fund, a Fair Housing Advisory Board is being established. The effort stems from reports that housing discrimination is an ongoing problem in Greater Binghamton.

Organizers say the Housing Stability and Tenant Protections Act passed by New York State in 2019 is not being enforced. The new board plans to monitor tenant screening, property maintenance and lease adherence.

It also plans to work collaboratively with Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Legal Services of Central New York and Central New York Fair Housing to potentially bring civil lawsuits over housing violations. Local housing justice consultant Rebecca Rathmell is coordinating the effort.

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“Multiple analyses conducted over the last decade have concluded that these illegal practices remain pervasive because there is no fair housing enforcement entity within any municipality of Broome County. No local, active ensurement that the expanded protections are effectively applied on behalf of vulnerable residents,” Rathmell said.

Rathmell says the board is submitting freedom of information requests to the Broome County District Attorney’s Office to monitor how many criminal investigations into housing violations have been initiated and to bring public pressure on prosecutors to do so.

The Fair Housing Advisory Board will include members who have been directly impacted by homelessness or housing instability. The group also is urging the Binghamton City Council to add the unhoused to the list of protected classes under the city’s Human Rights Law.

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