Audit finds state human rights office chronically mishandled housing discrimination complaints

The New York State Division of Human Rights for years mishandled housing discrimination complaints, according to an audit released by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Thursday.

The complaints tend to revolve around property owners who refuse to sell or rent to people based on ethnicity, race or other elements that make up a protected class. The audit concludes that the state failed New Yorkers who may be dealing with housing discrimination.

The agency, in response to the audit, acknowledged the problems cited and alluded to since-departed leadership as a culprit. DiNapoli’s office acknowledged there has been some improvement since then — but the audit suggests hundreds, if not thousands, of people were left without recourse in the face of housing discrimination.

“New Yorkers who face housing discrimination are told they can report it to the state Division of Human Rights and that it will be investigated, but the agency often failed to do its job,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Tenants whose complaints were mishandled may have been left to face continued discrimination or forced to move.”

Auditors reviewed hundreds of complaints filed with the agency between April 2019 to October 2023. They found that the agency mishandled claims in a multitude of ways, including by taking too long to investigate them, poorly documenting them, or simply losing the complaints altogether.

The agency’s computer system was so complicated and poorly managed that many complaints were never entered, according to the audit — in fact, when auditors requested records for 120 complaints they couldn’t find in the system, officials couldn’t account for 82 of them, or 68%.

It turned out that some of those cases ended up in the "Twilight Zone," a cabinet adorned with a laminated bright yellow paper sign that includes a spiral graphic evoking the creepy midcentury TV show. That’s where supposedly “defective” claims with missing information were placed and seemingly abandoned. But auditors found that 11 of the 25 complaints in the Twilight Zone weren't actually defective, and that complainants were never told their case had been deemed defective, as required by law.

When cases were investigated, they were often not done in a proper or timely manner, the audit found. The Division of Human Rights is required to initiate an investigation and notify respondents within 30 days, and complete the investigation within 100 days. Auditors looked at a sample of 175 claims filed and closed with the agency and found officials did not initiate a timely investigation in 82 of them, or 47%. They also didn’t complete the investigations and tell respondents of the outcome on time in 120 of the complaints, or 69%.

Aaron Carr, founder of Housing Rights Initiative, said timeliness is crucially important, especially in cases where tenants have time-sensitive vouchers.

“They need an enforcement agency that is going to quickly enforce the law so they can gain housing,” he said. “Enforcement is extraordinarily important for tenants who have vouchers, who are homeless and don't have time to wait for it — you need an enforcement agency that's going to respond to these complaints in a very quick and aggressive way.”

In one case it took 655 days to serve a respondent, more than one year after the 30-day period, according to the audit. In another, it took more than three years to complete an investigation, according to the audit.

Auditors also found that investigators with the Division of Human Rights weren’t properly trained and supervised resulting in improper documentation. In a sample of 87 cases in the computer system where an investigator had reached a conclusion, 61 of them, or 70%, did not include evidence that the Division of Human rights had completed all the required investigation steps.

Maria L. Imperial was the agency commissioner during a large portion of the timeframe covered by the audit and her departure in March of this year was related to unsatisfactory job performance, according to the Times Union. Gov. Kathy Hochul replaced her with Denise Miranda, the former head of the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs.

DiNapoli recommended that the agency develop and implement comprehensive written procedures, monitor the duties of staff responsible for logging complaints, and provide adequate training to staff. He said the agency has already made changes since the time the audit.

“It is encouraging that the agency is taking steps to address the issues raised by this audit,” Dinapoli wrote.

In its official response, the division concurred with the recommendations, and said the agency made “major” changes to its leadership, hired more investigators, and is planning to conduct internal audits and overhaul their case management system.

"The issues identified by the audit were unacceptable, and DHR did not wait for the release of today's report to take decisive action in order to address and rectify these issues," said Paula O’Brien-Soler, a deputy commissioner at the agency, in a statement on Thursday. "Gov. Hochul immediately appointed Denise Miranda to serve as acting commissioner and directed her to implement wide-ranging and transformative changes, not just within the Housing Investigations Unit, but across the entire agency."

Carr said he is cautiously optimistic that the agency will correct course under the new leadership.

“It's great that they now have new leadership that seems to be more focused on combating this issue, which is extremely important for the homeless and extremely important for taxpayers because homelessness is extraordinarily expensive,” he said.