Thursday, October 1, 2026
Long Island Housing Services, Inc. reached a settlement on behalf of a single mother who wanted to live in Oceanside, but was denied because not all of her income came from her job. The settlement resolves complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Nassau County Commission on Human Rights (CHR), against the owner and manager of the Oceanside apartment complex, Perne Realty, Ltd., and the real estate agency, Laffey Fine Homes, for the property located on Royal Avenue, Oceanside.
The complaints, filed in August 2013, alleged violations of the federal Fair Housing Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the local Nassau County Human Rights Law, all of which prohibit various forms of discrimination. The Nassau County law also prohibits discrimination on the basis of a person’s source of income, whether derived from employment, child support, alimony, Social Security Disability, subsidy-rental assistance programs, such as section 8 (Housing Choice Voucher Program), or public assistance.
The discrimination claim came from a single mother who had a substantial income from work, and in addition received her court ordered child support. The landlord only considered her employment income as criteria, which alone was not enough to cover the rental.
LIHS investigated the treatment of various rental candidates, comparing those with alternative sources of income to those with income only from employment. It revealed that testers with income from pensions, child support, Social Security Disability, or Section 8 were denied the opportunity to rent and were told that all income must come solely from employment in order to qualify.
The complaints allege discriminatory conduct both by the owner and manager of the apartment complex and the listing real estate agency employed to unlawfully screen potential tenants on the basis of their source of income. In addition to source of income, claims included discrimination based on gender, marital status, familial status, and disability.
