Three New York lawmakers say they plan to introduce legislation prohibiting property insurers from requesting information about tenant incomes and rental subsidies following a Gothamist investigation into a pervasive practice affecting affordable housing in the five boroughs.
Gothamist’s review of dozens of property and liability insurance applications and interviews with various brokers, landlords and fair housing groups found that insurance carriers operating in New York explicitly ask owners if they house tenants with subsidies — like the federal Section 8 and municipal CityFHEPS programs— and then decline to cover those who do. Property owners are barred from rejecting tenants because they pay the rent with housing vouchers — a practice known as “source of income discrimination” — but no such limits exist for insurance companies.
In response, Assembly Housing Committee Linda Rosenthal, Senate Housing Chair Brian Kavanagh and Assembly Insurance Committee Chair David Weprin all pledged to introduce legislation that prohibits insurers from using tenant source of income to make coverage decisions.
“This kind of behavior cements decades-old stereotypes and we should have moved away from that kind of practices years ago,” Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) said. “It’s really reprehensible.”
Fair housing groups have sued insurance carriers over the practice elsewhere in the country, reaching settlements after demonstrating that refusing to underwrite subsidized housing has a disparate impact on people of color, people with disabilities and women-headed households, all of whom are protected classes under federal law. California law explicitly bans insurers from asking questions about tenants’ source of income.
In New York City, those same protected classes account for the vast majority of housing voucher recipients.
“It’s blatantly unfair,” Rosenthal said. “We have so many problems with landlords not accepting vouchers, but this rises to another…
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