There were several affordable housing issues at the forefront of lawmakers’ minds and we needed to find a way to make a ban on source of income discrimination a top priority in Albany.

New York landlords could legally discriminate against a potential tenant based on their source of income (SOI), which included Social Security/ Disability, Housing Choice Vouchers, HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH), and more. This kind of discrimination largely impacted the elderly, persons living with disabilities, domestic violence survivors, persons who are experiencing homelessness, ethnic and racial minorities, and veterans. There were individual efforts to create SOI protections at the county and municipality levels across the State, but we needed a uniform statewide protection to extend coverage to all New Yorkers regardless of their geographic location in the state.

We built and managed a robust campaign that included more than 110 organizations across New York. We activated allies to make phone calls, send emails, draft letters and memos of support, and post on social media to encourage Governor Cuomo and other key members of the New York State Legislature to support a ban on SOI discrimination.