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“Federal civil rights enforcement is becoming less reliable, so local enforcement is even more critical—especially because New York City’s Human Rights Law provides protections that state and federal law do not.”
“Have you been convicted of a felony crime? Yes or No.”
That was the final question on a housing screening application that Jason Rodriguez had nearly finished—after providing income, documents, references, and proof he could pay the rent and be a responsible tenant.
Jason hesitated: If the answer was yes, would he be screened out? If the answer was no, would he be accused of lying when a background check returned? If the decision was to leave it blank, would he be forced to explain the very history the law is supposed to keep from being used as a barrier to housing?
Every possible answer felt like it could cost him the chance at an apartment.
This question was clearly a violation of local law according to the Legal Action Center, which is part of the Fair Chance for Housing Coalition and helps New Yorkers understand and enforce these protections. However, most applicants would not know that; but Jason did, because he works there. No New Yorker should need legal training to survive a housing application without discrimination.
This experience is personal to Jason, but the failure it exposes is systemic. It is also why Fair Chance for Housing was passed: to prevent exactly this kind of discrimination. It limits when and how housing providers can consider conviction history so people are not rejected before they are even evaluated. But a law cannot enforce itself. People need to know their rights, housing providers need to know their responsibilities, and violations must have consequences.
Together, we are calling on the city to act because Fair Chance for Housing—and the broader civil rights protections New Yorkers rely on every day—cannot work without education and enforcement. As the city weighs its human rights commission’s budget, the Council’s Committee on Civil and Human Rights, chaired by Councilmember Sandy Nurse, has heard the need clearly: New York must fund the agency charged with protecting those rights.
The City Council knew implementation would take resources. Its own fiscal impact statement estimated that Fair Chance for Housing would require $1.4 million a year for 10 new staff members at the New York City Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) and a public education campaign. That funding never came.
Instead, much of the public education around the law has been carried by nonprofits relying on private funding. But nonprofits cannot and should not substitute for a fully funded city civil rights agency. And non-profits cannot enforce the law and impose penalties on those who violate it.
Now, instead of providing that $1.4 million, the Executive Budget proposes to cut more—$1.5 million—from the very commission responsible for enforcing the law.
Fair Chance for Housing is the example we know most personally. But the same failure threatens rights across the city’s Human Rights Law.
CCHR is where New Yorkers should be able to turn when discrimination threatens housing, work, safety, or dignity—whether they are voucher holders denied housing, disabled tenants seeking accommodations, or workers facing pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment, or anti-immigrant threats.
With enough staff, the Commission can do more than process complaints. It can educate the public, mediate urgent disputes, investigate patterns, and intervene early enough to stop discrimination from leading to homelessness, unemployment, or lasting instability.
Federal civil rights enforcement is becoming less reliable, so local enforcement is even more critical—especially because New York City’s Human Rights Law provides protections that state and federal law do not.
We know what the Commission can do when it has the resources to act. In 2024, it secured a landmark $1 million settlement with Parkchester Preservation Management, holding the company accountable for refusing to rent to voucher holders and setting aside 850 apartments for them. That result required staffing, investigation, and time—exactly the capacity now at risk.
New York cannot meaningfully expand protections while shrinking the agency charged with enforcing them. Restoring the cut is necessary, but not enough. The city should add an additional $10 million to bring agency funding to $25 million—still less than 0.02 percent of the city budget.
Without that capacity, the burden falls back on the people the law was supposed to protect.
Somewhere in this city, right now, someone is staring at the same kind of illegal question that confronted Jason. They may not know the question violates the law. The landlord may not know either. Or worse, the landlord knows the law and is betting no one will stop them.
That is what underfunding does. It turns rights into guesses, and protections into paperwork.
The law exists. Now fund the agency that makes it real.
Sandy Nurse is a member of the New York City Council. Jason Rodriguez is a policy research associate at Legal Action Center.