HOME Claims Fair Housing for Families in Buffalo

For many years, the state of New York has included within its state legislation the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits any discriminatory activity exercised by any entity or person to harm another due to their race, religion, sex, nationality, disability, or family status. This protection also aligns with what is stipulated in the Human Rights Law.

The violation of these norms is often perpetrated by large real estate companies and housing providers who refuse to comply with the mandate by imposing certain rules, conditions, or special requirements to rent or sell a property.

In practice, it is frequently perceived how these housing providers continuously discriminate against families with children. One of the cities where this has now become almost normal is the city of Buffalo.

This discrimination against families with children, according to research conducted, is causing multiple consequences for rejected families, such as financial problems and mental and even physical harm.

This situation has been clearly studied by the housing advocates at Housing Opportunities Made Equal. In their work, they are constantly witnesses to the difficulties faced by families with children in Buffalo who are seeking affordable housing to settle down and raise their children.

On this occasion, and in light of the constant rejections of applications from several applicants with children, HOME has decided to take legal action against Buffalo Management Group, as their rental practices are leaving many families without the possibility of renting and highly harmed.

Buffalo Management Group, with over 30 years of work, is among the largest apartment management companies in Buffalo. According to consulted documents, their management includes hundreds of apartments for rent within the city and surrounding areas.

By having so many rental properties under their control that are not offered or are rejected to people with children under their protection, hundreds of families are harmed by their actions and operational policies, as they significantly reduce the possibility of finding affordable housing in Buffalo.

It is because of their practices that Housing Opportunities Made Equal has decided to sue them. Advocates believe that by denying rentals to so many families with children, this large company is violating both state and federal laws that seek to protect accessibility to housing for all in an equal and fair manner.

In the lawsuit, and after testing their rental practices by submitting applications in some of the buildings they manage that were rejected for stating that there were children among the occupants, HOME was able to verify that the real estate agents of the company constantly ignored the applications or outright rejected them, claiming that they did not correspond to the type of people the management or the owner was looking for.

In gathering evidence, HOME was able to verify that Buffalo Management Group admitted certain types of populations to accept visits to view specific apartments, while rejecting other types of people for the same properties.

And although HOME recognizes that there are neighborhoods where gentrification is sought and that there are housing projects only for this type of population, they hope that this change is handled more prudently and without forgetting that families, especially those with children, are the ones who make communities promising and futuristic places.

Available foreclosures:

Buffalo: 150 homes available

By Elías DaSilva | 22 de Noviembre de 2024.