Landlords may now choose to not rent their apartments to renters seeking housing using Section 8 rental assistance vouchers, according to a panel of New York judges who ruled earlier this month to dissolve a key protection for tenants in the program. The decision stems from a case heard by a fiv e-judge panel who sided with an Ithaca landlord’s argument that the program violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Section 8 is a program administered by the federal government that provides rental subsidies to low-income households.  The program requires consistent inspections by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which landlord Jason Fane said is a violation of his constitutional rights. The ruling of a New York appeals court could have disastrous effects on hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers seeking safe and affordable housing through the program, advocates said. More than 246,000 residents across the state use the program, according to data from the HUD. In Syracuse, the Syracuse Housing Authority administers Section 8 vouchers for about 3,600 households. Housing advocates say it is not clear how the decision will affect Onondaga County but that discrimination on the basis of income could become more blatant. Landlords’ ability to rule out tenants on the basis of their participation in the program comes at a time when the city is experiencing a lack of housing options and rapidly rising rents amid an exponential increase in both family and individual homelessness.  Local housing advocates say the decision from the Appellate Division’s Third Judicial Department will lead to fewer options for tenants. “Unfortunately, this is going to make it harder for Section 8 voucher holders to find housing,” said Sally Santangelo, the executive director at CNY Fair Housing. “Housing providers may now deny them outright.” CNY Fair Housing is a nonprofit that fights housing discrimination. Also known as Housing Choice Vouchers, Section 8 subsidizes rent for millions of Americans and helps them afford private market housing by partially paying the rent to the landlord. These vouchers are administered by over 2,000 local public housing authorities using funding from HUD. New York had protections in place since 2019 to prevent tenants from facing source-of-income discrimination which is often disguised as racial discrimination or refusal to provide accommodations for disabled renters, Santangelo said.  However, the recent ruling razed such protections to the ground for tenants who already face several obstacles, including meeting credit score requirements or vouchers failing to pay enough rent amid rising housing costs. “I think we will see more blatant forms and more outright forms of source-of-income discrimination,” Santangelo said.  Section 8 or source-of-income discrimination was often a proxy for discrimination on the basis of disability, race or national origin, Santangelo said. Discrimination is often subtle or harder to detect when instead of an outright denial landlords cite income or credit requirements that are inconsistent with the standards for non-voucher holders, she explained. Since the decision was made in the third department of the judicial committee, it is unclear what the implications will be for Onondaga County which falls in the fourth department, Santangelo said. CNY Fair Housing serves 10 counties in the third department while the remaining seven fall under the fourth department.  Generally, New York follow decisions made in another department unless they have a separate ruling, she said.  For now, CNY Fair Housing is still taking on source-of-income discrimination cases, as well as conducting proactive investigations, Santangelo said.  “Source-of-income discrimination is still illegal, and we’re just looking at those… to identify what programs require inspections and how that play[s] out,” Santangelo said.  “People are struggling” The appellate court’s decision in favor of Fane comes at a time when new Section 8 tenants are looking  for housing and are struggling to find safe and affordable options in a tight rental market locally.  Central Current reported in January that nearly 150 families were considering looking for new housing using Section 8 vouchers amid a one-time expansion of the program at SHA.  SHA received $5 million in the summer of 2025 to expand the voucher program and temporarily relocate residents who want to move away from public housing on the Southside to avoid the woes of construction involving the removal of the Interstate 81 viaduct.  Only 34 families took the housing authority up on the offer to temporarily relocate elsewhere in the county. Only five of those families had signed a lease in early January, SHA Executive Director William Simmons then told Central Current. A tight rental market has made the search for housing very difficult, said SHA Deputy Executive Director Jalyn Clifford. The new ruling will add more pressure to residents who are already facing rejections in the market.  “People get craftier so you see different ways of discriminating instead of blatantly saying that they won’t take a Section 8 voucher,” Clifford said. “I definitely think people are going to be more at risk.” CNY Fair Housing launched a mobility counseling program in late November that serves as an additional resource available to SHA tenants looking to relocate with these new vouchers. The program pairs families who have vouchers with a housing counselor who would help households assess their housing options away from the city in what the state identifies as “well-resourced areas.”  Counselors help improve residents’ credit scores to pass screening processes as well as assist families with applying to programs with financial assistance to cover a security deposit, application fees, and moving costs.  However, Santangelo said that finding housing for voucher holders enrolled in CNY Fair Housing’s new mobility program has already been challenging.  “People are struggling,” she told Central Current. “We have clients who’ve been working for six months to find a place to live with their rent fully paid and they can’t find a place.” In January, Central Current reported that CNY Fair Housing had five families enrolled and one in the pipeline. Two of the families were from Pioneer Homes.  The organization has a new goal to assist 25 families in the grant period that starts on April 1.  In the meantime, fair housing advocates are continuing to dispel prejudiced misconceptions about  Section 8 tenants and accepting source-of-income discrimination complaints.  “I don’t understand why this [landlord] business should be treated differently than other businesses? [A] hairdresser needs to have a license. Why doesn’t your landlord?” Santangelo said.  SHA is hoping the program’s reliability can serve as an incentive for landlords to consider renting to voucher holders. The authority’s Section 8 team has increased partnerships, rental preparedness and education for families and landlords, Clifford said.  SHA hosted a meet and mingle event with landlords earlier last year to provide resources and information about the Section 8 program, including resources from the county and the state that pay landlords to fix their apartments as long as they are affordable.  “To me, it’s that much better that you have guaranteed rent backed by the federal government, so you’re going to ensure that you get paid month to month,” Clifford said.  As SHA continues to monitor the kind of impact the ruling will have on families, Clifford cautioned that striking down income protections could exacerbate local homelessness.  Last year, the Housing and Homelessness Coalition found that 52% of the total homeless population in Cayuga, Oswego and Onondaga Counties are families. Homelessness is up 150% in Central New York since 2019 with 71% of the unhoused folks being from Onondaga County, Central Current reported.  “With the increase in family homeless rates I can’t imagine how much that may increase based on this ruling alone,” Clifford said. “I’m just hoping that it’s appealed, and we can continue to keep folks housed as much as we can.” In the aftermath of the judicial decision on Section 8 vouchers, local housing advocates are still choosing to be optimistic about a potential appeal from New York State Attorney General Letitia James.   James, who sued Fane in 2022 for violating state law by refusing to rent out to Section 8 tenants, is reviewing the current decision. If James appeals the decision further, it would go to the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.  “Every New Yorker deserves access to safe and dignified housing regardless of their income or background,” James said in a March 5 statement. For Santangelo, the case was wrongly decided. She said she expects it to be overturned. “I am feeling hopeful,” Santangelo said.  The post Landlords could not deny housing to tenants because of their Section 8 voucher. Now they can. appeared first on Central Current. ...read more read less