What is Disparate Impact and why it is important?

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) has been US law for nearly 60 years, but it is now at risk, as the federal government takes aim at a wide swath of programs. One of the FHA’s key provisions is the disparate impact standard, which ensures that anyone who files a housing discrimination claim does not have to prove that the discrimination was intentional. 

In light of the current jeopardy of this landmark standard, New York State Senator Brian Kavanagh and Assembly Member Micah Lasher have introduced legislation that would enshrine the FHA’s disparate impact standard into New York State’s human rights’ law. ERASE Racism strongly endorses this legislation to ensure that New Yorkers continue to have recourse, if they are victims of housing discrimination, no matter what form it takes or what happens in Washington DC. Our endorsement was recently highlighted by the New York State Senate.

The disparate impact standard would find a landlord to be guilty if they refuse to make improvements to a home that would enable a disabled resident to live there. Disparate impact can also apply to local governments, as we have seen across Long Island.

In 2017, the Village of Garden City was found to have engaged in discrimination against Black and Latino residents by approving a zoning change in 2004 that prohibited the development of multifamily affordable housing. Only last year did this development open as The Florent, becoming the first multi-family apartment complex to have been built in Garden City in over 50 years. Without disparate impact, this would not have been possible, leaving a vacant lot open instead of providing much-needed affordable housing.

Long Island remains one of the most highly segregated metro areas in the nation. If disparate impact was to be weakened, it would only worsen the divide. The proposed legislation is vital to the future of housing justice on Long Island.