New York Attorney General Halts Fair Housing Testing Program

After nearly a year and nothing to show for it, New York Attorney General Letitia James is pressing the brakes on a $3 million fair housing testing program.

The attorney general’s office rescinded a request for bids for the program, Newsday reported. Prospective applicants weren’t given a reason the RFP was rescinded, but the office is expected to rework the program and open it back up to bids in the fall.

James announced the program to notable fanfare in November. It was designed to fund the use of fair housing testers across the state. The program is funded by license fees added under a change to state law in 2021. Anti-bias laws also came with increased penalties from $1,000 to $2,000, and half of what is collected be distributed into the fair housing initiative.

Nonprofit organizations across the state would be able to apply for grants of up to $250,000 to pay for the work.

But the quick turnaround time expected for applications and the relatively small amount of funds available kept nonprofits at bay. The program was geared more towards in-person paired testing, which is significantly more costly than snooping around over the phone.

The eligibility requirements were also stringent. For instance, groups were not allowed to have already received state or federal funding to support fair housing testing.

“My understanding is that the amount of money that was made available may not have been enough for organizations to feel that they could sustain the work,” ERASE Racism president Laura Harding told Newsday. “It’s way more expensive than people think.”

James’ office vowed to work with prospective grant-seekers to “provide additional financial and education support so they can create fair housing programs.”

While James’ testing program has hit the skids, the state Division of Homes and Community Renewal is moving ahead with its own testing program, which is funded by a combined $8.5 million in recent state budgets.

— Holden Walter-Warner