During his time as Public Advocate Bill De Blasio authored the Source of Income law. This law stopped ads from stating whether or not apartment rental accepted programs. Advocates believed that owners discriminated against programs and this law would address that. But here is what the rule unintentionally did to program recipients.
Note: This rule only applies to New York.
Sample ads
1st Ad
3-bedroom apartment
Utilities included
No Programs
This ad used to be legal. It let program recipients know that the owner of this apartment did not participate in programs.
2nd Ad
3-bedroom apartment
Utilities included
Program Welcomed
This ad lets the program recipient know that the owner does participate in programs. This ad was not legal because the source of income law says it’s discriminatory.
Today’s ads
3-bedroom apartment
Utilities included
Legal ad according to the source of income law. No mention of whether or not the owner participates in programs.
Waste of Time Limited Minutes
Consider this: You are a program recipient with limited funds. You have a phone with limited minutes. Which ad would you like to spend your minutes on?
Ad number one tells you that the owner does not participate in programs. Therefore, you don’t waste precious time and minutes on this one.
- Ad number three does not give you anything concerning programs. So you have no other choice but to call and ask. There’s a fifty-fifty chance that the owner participates in programs.
- Ad number two tells you that the owner participates in programs. Bingo, no time or minutes wasted! You would call this one if you knew that it took programs. But you don’t, thank you, Mayor DeBlasio.
- Unfortunately, you will never have the benefit of this type of ad in New York. Instead, you waste time and minutes calling every rental ad. You will ask the same question over and over, “Do you take programs”? Meanwhile, in other states, program recipients are calling on ads that state “Programs Welcomed”.
I’m on the list
Program recipients sometimes get a list of brokers/agents that have rented program apartments. The list is seldom up to date. If you have one of these you will again spend lots of time calling agents and brokers.
Here’s the thing. Program apartments don’t last. And the list is based on agents that have already rented a program apartment. There are times that the list contains recently listed apartments. But it does not state availability. So the list is of little use.
No Change
The Source of Income law has not resulted in an increase in apartment rentals to programs. There is no change in the amount of vouchers realty’s accept. This is because realty’s are required to accept all vouchers. The exception is realty’s that only do sales, no rentals.
So this law is a bust. It only worked to make locating an apartment harder for people with programs.
Repeal the Source of Income Law
A repeal of the Source of Income law will give program recipients an edge. Instead of calling every listing. The program person would call ads that stated, “programs welcomed”.
No more wasted time and minutes. Imagine, less frustration and greater success in apartment hunting. Wouldn’t that be great?
In the final analysis Source of Income is a source of frustration and nothing more.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and nothing stated here is legal advice. This article applies to the five boroughs of New York. All information deemed accurate but not guaranteed. Always check the real estate laws in your part of the country.
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