May 9
2025
Local landlords, brokers accused of rejecting Section 8 tenants
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A text message between a tester and a real estate agent used as evidence in a housing discrimination complaint. Screenshot provided by Housing Rights Initiative.
A non-profit watchdog group Wednesday filed complaints accusing 103 real estate agents, brokerage firms and property owners across the state of discriminating against Section 8 voucher holders.
Thirteen of the defendants named in the 52 complaints filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights are located in Buffalo.
Some of the Buffalo defendants, contacted by Investigative Post for comment, are calling foul on the accusations.
Housing Rights Initiative — an organization that aims to “protect the rights of tenants and to preserve and promote affordable and fair housing,” per its mission statement — conducted a year-long investigation. Testers posing as individuals with Section 8 vouchers reached out to a number of real estate brokers and independent landlords to ask whether they would accept the vouchers.
Investigators compiled dozens of text messages and audio from recorded phone calls that they claim prove discrimination against tenants on Section 8, also known as the Housing Choice Voucher program.
Some real estate agents and property owners told testers that they didn’t accept Section 8, according to the complaints. Some claimed the apartments in question weren’t approved to accept the vouchers.
Some brokers blamed the property owners. Others didn’t provide reasons, just denials.
In New York State, it is illegal for landlords to deny tenants based on lawful sources of income, which include Section 8 vouchers. The City of Buffalo’s Fair Housing Law further enforces this protection for renters.
Housing Rights Initiative founder and executive director Aaron Carr called the violations described in the filings “the tip of the iceberg.”
“Over the years, tenants across New York State have complained to our watchdog group about the issue of housing voucher discrimination. So in response to that, we launched this undercover investigation in cities like Buffalo,” Carr said.
The group also filed complaints in Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, White Plains and Long Island. Buffalo had the second largest number of defendants with 13, just behind Rochester, where complaints were filed against 23 defendants.
More than 10,000 households in Buffalo use Section 8 vouchers, according to census estimates. The vouchers are distributed in Buffalo by three agencies: Belmont Housing, Rental Assistance Corporation of WNY and the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority. In order for landlords to accept the vouchers, they must complete a Request for Tenancy Approval with their prospective renter through one of the agencies.
Once the agency receives the request, the housing agency determines whether the rent is affordable. The apartment also must be inspected and approved by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds the program.
An Investigative Post reporter reached out to all 13 accused Buffalo property owners, real estate agents and companies and was able to speak with five. None of the five were aware complaints had been filed against them until contacted by the reporter.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomProperty owner Thomas Michael Neu told a Housing Rights Initiative tester last October that she wouldn’t be an eligible tenant for a Cottage Place apartment because it was not Section 8 approved.
“This is our first property, so we’re working on getting that going eventually,” he told the tester.
Neu told Investigative Post that he’s never discriminated against prospective tenants. He said he hasn’t gone through the certification process to accept tenants on Section 8, although he has tried.
“Moving forward, I’d be interested, but it’s not something I’m set up to do yet. After I reached out to the office, I never heard back … I tried to set up the inspection, I tried to see what I had to do,” he said.
Carr, of Housing Rights Initiative, agreed that keeping housing organizations on track with rolling out approvals is as important as enforced compliance among landlords.
“We need to make sure that the public housing authorities are functioning at the highest level and doing inspections quickly,” he said. “Enforcement is one tool in the toolbox, but there are many tools that we need to be using at the same time to ensure that tenants are able to use their vouchers.”
Housing advocates say delays in the approval process are no excuse for landlords to turn down Section 8 vouchers.
“A lot of times folks talk about the administrative burden of having to wait for the inspection, go through that process and having to make any repairs necessary to pass that inspection,” said Daniel Corbitt, attorney for Housing Opportunities Made Equal. While Corbitt was not involved in the Housing Rights Initiative’s investigation or complaint filings, he has filed suits based on similar investigations carried out by HOME.
“But really, it’s the same requirement for all kinds of residential housing. The warranty of habitability is implied in all residential leases.”
Another accused landlord who preferred not to be named told a tester via text who inquired about using a Section 8 voucher, “I’m sorry, you can’t use that here.”
That landlord told Investigative Post that she currently has tenants on Section 8. She said that she wasn’t aware that it was unlawful to deny tenants with the vouchers. She argued that there should be laws in place to protect landlords as well, as she believes tenants on Section 8 are high-risk renters.
“You only hear horror stories about Section 8. I’ve never heard any positive story where someone rented out to someone that has Section 8. And when you kick them out, if they do trash your house, the city doesn’t do anything about it, so you don’t have any landlord protection,” she said.
Some individuals accused of discrimination said they were only acting as intermediaries for landlords.
Mohammed Radwanul Bari told a tester last November that she wouldn’t be able to use a Section 8 voucher for a rental property on Warren Avenue.
“The owner doesn’t like Section 8. Listen, I am not the owner,” Bari told Investigative Post.
Mohammed Aref is Bari’s brother and husband to the Warren Avenue property’s owner, Abida Sultana. He told Investigative Post the claims that he and his wife don’t accept Section 8 are untrue. In fact, he said the program has offered them security that they will receive even a portion of rent owed, compared to previous tenants they’ve had to evict for nonpayment of rent who received no payment assistance..
“If anybody qualifies with Section 8, I’m willing to give it to them. This money is guaranteed, also,” Aref said.
Gina DuBois, a real estate agent with WNY Metro Roberts Realty, told Investigative Post discrimination claims brought against her and the company “couldn’t be further from the truth.” She is accused of telling a tenant last year that they wouldn’t be able to rent a Carolina Street apartment because Section 8 wouldn’t pay for the security deposit.
DuBois told Investigative Post that, as a real estate agent, she relays what she’s told by the landlords who employ her.
“It’s not me, it’s the landlords that won’t take it,” she said. “I asked that landlord, and they’re like, ‘No, we want security.’ So I went to a different landlord, and I got Section 8 approved.”
DuBois said that the landlords she works with currently have tenants with Section 8 vouchers. After having conversations with Belmont Housing — one of the city’s three distributors of vouchers — she’s been able to educate landlords about renting to tenants on Section 8.
“I didn’t know a lot about it until I checked with Section 8, because I just hadn’t done a lot of rentals. But now there’s so many rentals, and so many people are owning rentals, that now I think we all fully understand it,” DuBois said.
Carr acknowledged that some real estate professionals might be unaware that denial of Section 8 is illegal, but said it’s no excuse. The state law has been on the books since 2019.
“We don’t care if a landlord knew about these laws or didn’t know about these laws. What we care about is that they are discriminating against tenants and increasing homelessness, which doesn’t just hurt the homeless, but hurts taxpayers and our communities and our society,” Carr said.
Some property owners argue that governments should bear more responsibility for preventing homelessness and protecting landlords.
“The city is forcing you to do something that they’re not capable of doing. Because if you really cared about these people, you would have had a law in effect that protects landlords that do accept Section 8,” said the landlord who wished to remain anonymous.
“It’s like you can’t do anything at all. They don’t want you to do good in life,” she said.
Carr said that government enforcement of fair housing laws, especially on the municipal level, leaves much to be desired. He said unenforced local laws are no more than “dead letters.”
“The goal of this filing is to bring those laws to life and push local governments to do a better job proactively and systematically enforcing their fair housing laws,” he said. “Buffalo needs to be doing a better job.”
The City of Buffalo in March filed a fair housing lawsuit against a property owner and a property management company for allegedly failing to make reasonable accommodations for a tenant with a disability. It’s just the third such lawsuit the city has brought in the past decade.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund in January filed a complaint against Avant Realty for alleged racial discrimination and steering.
And HOME last November sued Buffalo Management Group for discriminating against families with children. That case was settled last month.
