Fair-Housing Law Making Inroads
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OVER the last four years, discrimination in housing has cost the real-estate industry in the metropolitan New York area almost $2 million in legal awards and in negotiated settlements, according to the Open Housing Center of New York. In addition, the center reports increasing use of the Federal statute prohibiting discrimination in housing and said it expects this trend to continue. The center, an independent nonprofit organization, based its findings on a report by Ann L. Nowak of City University of New York Law School at Queens College. Miss Nowak studied 157 housing discrimination cases and found the overwhelming basis for all the complaints reported was race. Betty Hoeber, director of the Open Housing Center, hailed the report as evidence that fair housing laws are being used to good effect. She said wider use of the Federal Fair Housing Law, which was passed as part of the Civil Rights Act in June 1968, had accounted for an increase in monetary awards. ”The Federal law provides for both compensatory damages to the victims of housing discrimination and punitive damages to deter these illegal practices,” she noted. ”State and local laws, on the contrary, have always focused on conciliation, with minimal monetary awards.” The Federal Fair Housing Law ”could still be used more widely,” Mrs. Hoeber added. ”People should know it’s worth doing. People often meet discrimination and don’t know that there’s something they can do about it. The laws are available and do work.” The study covers the period from 1981 through May 1985 and reviews cases in New York City, Long Island, northern New Jersey and Westchester County which resulted in awards and settlements of $1,909,221. The dollar amounts have gone up steadily since 1981, according to the report, topping $1 million last year alone. More : query.nytimes.com |