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ALBANY — An audit released Thursday by the state comptroller’s office found the New York State Division of Human Rights had failed to investigate dozens of housing discrimination cases due to poor management that resulted in complaints being lost, mislabeled and unprocessed.
Some complaints that were not entered into a case management system were found by Division of Human Rights officials “in a filing cabinet labeled the ‘Twilight Zone,’ where some cases labeled ‘defective’ were filed, meaning they required more information and were not being investigated further,” the comptroller’s office said.
Under state law the agency should have notified individuals if their complaint was defective, but about a third of them were never contacted by the Division of Human Rights. More than two dozen complaints in the “Twilight Zone” file were improperly listed as defective.
The audit was released seven months after Division of Human Rights Commissioner Maria L. Imperial was removed from her position due to unsatisfactory job performance. Imperial was succeeded by Denise Miranda, who had been the executive director of the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs.
Imperial had been appointed commissioner by Gov. Kathy Hochul in October 2021, two months after the resignation of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
The Times Union reported in March that Imperial’s departure was in part a result of a decades-long backlog of cases and that the comptroller’s office was investigating the situation.
“New Yorkers who face housing discrimination are told they can report it to the state Division of Human Rights and that it will be investigated, but the agency often failed to do its job,” state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said in a statement. “It lost cases due to carelessness and failed to properly or quickly investigate others. Tenants whose complaints were mishandled may have been left to face continued discrimination or forced to move.”
His office recommended the agency “should establish new procedures that ensure complaints are handled with the attention and respect they deserve.”
The backlog followed measures put in place by Hochul’s administration to strengthen protections for victims of workplace sexual harassment, including a statewide hotline that promised New Yorkers they would be connected with experienced pro bono attorneys to advise them on their cases.
Those changes had contributed to complaints to the Division of Human Rights increasing in volume while staffing levels remained relatively flat.
In addition to workplace complaints, the division’s Housing Investigations Unit handles housing discrimination cases. The audit reviewed 306 of 2,236 housing discrimination complaints from April 2019 to October 2023. The auditors found that 82 of 120 complaints were never entered into the agency’s case management system and were lost.
The discrimination complaints can occur when property “sellers, owners, landlords, real estate brokers or agents refuse to sell or negotiate the sale, lease or rental of housing based on a protected class, such as age, race, income, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, military statues or other specified traits or characteristics,” according to the comptroller’s office.
In nearly half of 175 complaints filed with the Division of Human Rights the auditors found that the agency never initiated an investigation or failed to notify the person accused of discrimination within 30 days, which is required under state and federal laws.
“In one case, it took 655 days or almost two years to serve the complaint against the accused,” the comptroller’s office said.
In nearly 70 percent of the cases reviewed, the agency failed to complete its investigation and did not notify the person accused of discrimination of the outcome of the case within 100 days, as required. One case took more than three years for the agency to determine a probable cause existed.
Some cases were dismissed without investigators documenting that they had completed all required steps to close them. That may have led to discrimination continuing or being left unaddressed, the audit found.
The breakdown was in part a result of investigators not being properly trained or supervised. The agency also improperly prioritized complaints referred by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over those filed directly by individuals. A Division of Human Rights investigator told auditors they had been instructed to prioritize the HUD cases because of federal reimbursements.
The audit recommended the Division of Human Rights establish internal controls for the investigation and processing of all complaints, including those deemed defective, and implement written procedures. It also called for improved oversight to identify delays in the processing of cases and ensure all complaints are investigated as required under state law.
The comptroller’s office said Division of Human Rights officials “generally agreed with the audit’s recommendations and said the agency has made ‘major’ changes to its executive leadership, brought on more investigators and will conduct internal audits, increase training and overhaul their case management system and intake process.”
