New survey reveals NYC housing discrimination tactics

NEW YORK -- New Yorkers in rental assistance programs are dealing with bogus fees and deposits demanded by landlords, brokers, or even just outright scammers.

That's according to a new survey on the various types of housing discrimination happening across the five boroughs .

It's a problem CBS News New York Investigates reporter Tim McNicholas has covered for years.

Nycole-Lanyse Jacques recently joined McNicholas over Zoom from just outside Chicago, but said she'd rather be in New York City.

"I literally shuffled my life. I don't have a place in New York," Jacques said.

That's despite months of searching, and despite being in a rental assistance program called CityFHEPS, or Family Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement.

In late 2022, one broker emailed her telling her to Venmo or Zelle "a good faith deposit of $1,000," in addition to a $100 in application fees.

"It was very, like, disheartening and frustrating, considering it's already hard to find a place in New York to begin with," Jacques said.

"We absolutely shouldn't stand for it"

The city's Human Rights Commission says charging voucher holders "upfront fees or deposits of more than $20 ... may be evidence of discrimination under the NYC Human Rights Law."

"We absolutely shouldn't stand for it," said Ashley Eberhart, of Unlock NYC.

Eberhart said a new report from the nonprofit found more than 60 allegations of sky-high fees and deposits since 2021 -- some of them involving outright scammers posing as brokers. She said the problems are likely underreported.

"Everybody has an instance where somebody said, 'Hey, I don't usually do this but since you're a voucher holder, can you put down a good faith deposit of $500? Or I can get your application to the top of the pile if you just give me a little bit of money on the side,'" Eberhart said.

The survey focused not just on fees, but all the ways people using rental assistance vouchers face discrimination. It also found more than 20 different tactics brokers and landlords use to discriminate against people in rental assistance programs. The most common is ghosting -- just not responding when they learn someone is using a voucher.

CBS News New York exposed voucher discrimination in 2023

In December, McNicholas went undercover during a showing in Brooklyn , where a realtor said vouchers would not be accepted, which is illegal.

"Would they accept someone on vouchers?" McNicholas asked.

"Um, so vouchers are a tricky subject with landlords. What my broker said is, um, not right now, unfortunately," the agent said.

"As soon as they mention they'll be paying with a voucher, the conversation takes a turn. They say, 'We'll be giving you a call back.' They never get a call back," Eberhart said.

The real estate agency that requested that deposit from Jacques said it's against its policy to do that to voucher holders, but said a co-broker failed to say she was using a voucher, and that co-broker never got back to CBS News New York Investigates.