NYC Realty Company Discriminates Against Moms With Vouchers: Suit

NEW YORK CITY — Roshana Harper broke down in the subway when she received a message from the broker she'd hoped would save her family from the shelter system, a new lawsuit contends.

“I’m sick of you," the broker allegedly said, after Harper disclosed she'd use housing vouchers to pay the rent. "Leave me the f--- alone."

Harper is one of eight New Yorkers named in a lawsuit against Chestnut Holdings — a property management company with more than 6,000 apartments in three boroughs — accused in court records Friday of illegally discriminating against New Yorkers with rent subsidies.

Patch reached out to Chestnut Holdings for comment but did not receive a response.

The lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Civil Court accuses Chestnut Holdings of violating city and state Human Rights laws that make it illegal to refuse applicants who rely on subsidized income to pay rent.

The New Yorkers to whom Chestnut Holdings allegedly denied housing include a college student, an expecting mother, a disabled man, and a four-member family that left the city rather then share a roach-infested junior one-bedroom, the suit contends.

The following are a few of the allegations raised in the 43-page complaint.

"Mice Chew On And Damage Her And Her Children’s Clothes"

Shaniece Figgs decided to move so her four-year-old and two-year-old daughters would no longer live in an apartment that went without heat in the winter and was infested by mice.

Figgs applied for a one-bedroom apartment in The Bronx at 975 Sherman Ave. in October 2020, telling the broker she had a $1,580 housing voucher and would move in with her two babies.

The broker would not allow Figgs to look at the apartment, and as of September 2021 she was still searching for a better home.

The mice infestation has only gotten worse.

"Mice come into the children’s beds even during the daytime if Ms. Figgs is not there to scare them away," the suit states.

"She wakes up daily to clean mouse droppings from her kitchen so she will be able to prepare meals for her children."

"Heart Palpitations"

Yiraldy Rodriguez, an expecting mother, had until June to find a new home or she and her children would find themselves in a shelter, law papers show.

Rodriguez couldn't afford her Bronx apartment after the landlord yanked the preferential rent, so in March 2019 she tried to apply for a $1,100-a-month studio at 189 E. Mosholu Parkway North, according to the suit.

But when Rodriguez mentioned her housing voucher, the Chestnut Holdings broker allegedly replied, “Unfortunately you don’t meet the income requirement for this apartment."

The pregnant mom's fears of not being able to provide a home for her baby caused headaches and heart palpitations that only disappeared two years later, in June 2021, according to the complaint.

"[The symptoms] are due to the emotional distress from the fear that her family would become homeless," the lawsuit states. "[They] disappeared once she found this new apartment."

"Her Children Would Be Next"

Barbara Jackson couldn't get her kids out of their shelter before the pandemic hit because no realtors would accept her housing vouchers, the lawsuit contends.

"A few people from the shelter ... died from COVID-19," the lawsuit states. "Ms. Jackson worried that she or her children would be next."

Jackson, currently of Prospect Lefferts Gardens, hoped to move her 14-year-old and 6-year-old into an apartment she found at 2095 Grand Concourse in June 2019, according to the suit.

But Jackson was not allowed to set foot in the apartment after she told her broker she had a voucher to cover the rent, the complaint states.

An agent from Neighbors Together — a community group that helps low income New Yorkers find homes — posed as a potential renter with a $100,000 annual income a week later, law papers show.

According to the complaint, the Neighbors Together activist received an invitation to view the Grand Concourse apartment within about two minutes.

“I’m Sick Of You"

Roshana Harper thought the vacant Ocean Avenue apartment would save her two young children the shelter system, but in applying for the home, all Harper did was exasperate a broker who called her a b---- and told the desperate mom to "Leave me the f--- alone."

Harper applied for the Chestnut Holdings-run apartment at 2234 Ocean Ave. in April 2019 because, at $1,499 a month, she knew her Family Homelessness & Eviction Prevention Supplement payment would cover the rent.

But when Harper alerted her first broker to her supplemental payment, the broker replied, "You wasted my time."

Harper reported the denial to the City's Human Resources Administration then tried another broker who let her fill out an application and accepted a $60 fee.

Chestnut Holdings rejected her application and when Harper requested a denial letter, the broker replied, “I’m sick of you. You are being a b----."

Harper broke down when she received this message because she was afraid for her seven-year-old and her four-year-old, according to the complaint.

"She consequently had to live and share living space in an environment where there was constant smoking," the suit contends. "Which posed great danger to her family, and particularly to her asthmatic child."

"400 Square Feet"

Mallery Morrison applied for 40 apartments before she accepted the junior one-bedroom on Seagirt Avenue in Queens, according to the suit.

It might have been enough space where she on her own, but Morrison brought with her a disabled husband, four-year-old daughter and 18-month-old son.

The first apartment Morrison applied for at 3275 Grand Concourse Avenue was within her price range — about $140 less than her $1,534 per month housing subsidy — and it was a proper one bedroom, the suit contends.

But the broker for the Chestnut Holdings allegedly told her, "I'm not taking programs."

Morrison was forced to take the Far Rockaway apartment, even though there were water leaks, roaches and vermin, the suit contends.

Eventually the family gave up on ever finding an affordable home in the city and moved to North Carolina.