Good morning Chair Sanchez and members of the committee and thank you for holding this hearing today. I am here representing Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
Our office’s 2025 Comprehensive Plan for Brooklyn focuses one of its four frameworks on “Housing Growth and Housing Choice,” with strategies outlined to further fair housing, support growth in priority areas, and increase housing options for individuals and families of various sizes, incomes, and preferences. The Plan states: “where Brooklynites live shapes their access to opportunity; their connection to community anchors, employment and transit options (including time spent commuting); their health outcomes and risks; and distance to everyday needs such as schools, parks, and grocery stores.”
Unfortunately, discrimination remains one of the major barriers to housing choice, and the city’s co-op apartments are no exception. There are about 450,000 occupied units in co-op buildings in NYC, according to the NYC Comptroller. They are inhabited by a mix of owners and renters, with all owners and some renters needing board approval to live there. The law prevents these boards from discriminating against protected classes; however, because boards are not required to give applicants a reason for rejection, proving discrimination generally requires an expensive and time-consuming lawsuit, meaning boards are rarely held accountable. As The Guardian put it in 2022, “the secrecy allows for discrimination with impunity.”
As the federal government threatens to roll back fair housing protections and scales back enforcement, we must step up our efforts in the city. Intro 407-a does this by requiring boards to share their reasons for rejecting applicants, ensuring that they will issue decisions based on legal reasons only, or be subject to penalties for non-disclosure.
We also need to ensure that the City Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is sufficiently funded to enforce discrimination claims when they do arise. According to the latest Mayor’s Management Report (MMR), inquires to CCHR describing potential violations of all types increased 14% in the last year (the largest increase on record), and the average age of their complaint caseload is 614 days – over a year-and-a-half – yet staffing levels have not increased accordingly. The City Council must address this in the FY 2027 budget.
Thank you again for this hearing today, and to Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for proposing Intro 407-a. Borough President Reynoso encourages the Council to move quickly to pass this bill before the end of the term.
