News & Views    

CNY Fair Housing files discrimination suit against senior housing provider

CNY Fair Housing files discrimination suit against senior housing provider; Clover Group owns senior apartments in Salina, Camillus and Clay

Onondaga County ranks high in racial income difference

Relevance to The Map of 1919 can be found in the CNY Fair Housing Report issued every five years. That report cites the legacy of redlining in Syracuse and Onondaga County as the basis for persistent problems today.

Syracuse zoning proposal an unlawful barrier to housing 

The proposed zoning amendment would change the process by which group homes for individuals with disabilities and other “Care Homes” are permitted in the city.

Syracuse councilor drops plan for special permit review of 'care homes'

Councilor Pat Hogan said requiring a special permit would give the Syracuse Common Council an opportunity to vote on allowing care homes in commercial and industrial zones that are close to residential areas.

Renter? Learn your rights during CNY Fair Housing virtual seminar

Sally Santangelo, CNY Fair Housing's Executive Director, said the sessions will focus on educating renters about what the organization's mission and capabilities are, and how they can help tenants navigate disputes with their landlords or discriminatory practices they may encounter while renting.

Between 2 worlds: how Syracuse’s racist housing policies created a racial divide

In one, new buildings rise from freshly paved asphalt, a collection of luxury student apartment complexes attracted to the money that flows from the whiter, wealthier enclaves near Syracuse University’s campus. Here, the university’s student population stretches toward the city’s center, where the highest estimated concentration of 19 to 24-year-old Syracuse residents live.

CNY Fair Housing Traces Housing and Health Disparities Along Redlines

Executive Director of CNY Fair Housing, Sally Santangelo, led the workshop, explaining to conference attendees the list of laws and enforcements that encouraged and solidified segregation in Central New York.

She mentioned the building of I-81 and urban renewal, discriminatory practices within real estate businesses and redlining.

Katko introduces bill in response to Oswego landlord's sexual harassment case

Central New York Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) is introducing legislation aimed at combating sexual harassment in public housing, an effort that was inspired in part by a lawsuit that was filed against an Oswego landlord. Last year, Doug Waterbury, owner of the Sterling Renaissance Festival and about 50 rental properties, reached an $850,000 settlement agreement with the U.S. 

Town Hall Meeting in Syracuse Explores Expanded Sexual Harassment Protections

State Division of Human Rights commissioner Angela Fernandez discussed the scope of the new laws at a town hall meeting Tuesday in Syracuse.

"The expansion in the laws include, 'Harassment is against the law whenever an individual is subjected to inferior terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.'"

CNY Fair Housing: Proposed HUD Rule Change Raises Bar for Proving Discrimination

The proposed re-write of a 2013 HUD rule would set a higher bar for bringing cases of unintentional discrimination, known as disparate impact.  Executive Director of CNY Fair Housing Sally Santangelo says the undefined and arbitrary standard would create an extreme hurdle… "Essentially, it would cut off cases before they even start because the standard for bringing cases is too burdensome."

Lawsuit against Sterling Renaissance Festival owner settled

A settlement has been reached in a sexual harassment lawsuit against the owner of the Sterling Renaissance Festival. CNY Fair Housing, which along with six women filed the suit against Doug Waterbury in August 2017, announced the settlement in a news release Wednesday. The suit accused Waterbury of subjecting tenants of his Oswego rental properties to unwanted sexual contact and other forms of harassment. 

CNY Fair Housing v. Waterbury

On August 8, 2017, Relman Colfax filed a federal housing discrimination lawsuit against Oswego, New York landlord Douglas Waterbury, alleging that Waterbury demanded sexual favors from female tenants in exchange for lower rents and other benefits of tenancy. 

Utica housing: Bill would ban income discrimination

Search the Craigslist page for Utica and you will find apartment listings from landlords who refuse to accept Section 8 or other forms of public assistance.

State officials and fair housing advocates, however, are pushing to make that discriminatory and illegal.

Bills proposed by Gov. 

Justice Department lawsuit accuses Oswego landlord of sexual harassment

The federal government is filing a lawsuit against an Oswego landlord accusing him of severe, pervasive and unwanted sexual harassment against female tenants and potential tenants. It's the second such suit that the property owner is facing. 

Sally Santangelo on the Campbell Conversations

The city of Syracuse has one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the nation. How does housing discrimination and segregation factor into that? This week on the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with Sally Santangelo, Executive Director of CNY Fair Housing. They discuss the many facets of housing discrimination in Syracuse and across central New York.

Lawsuit accuses Oswego landlord of demanding sex for lower rent, maintenance work

OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Six low-income women say an Oswego landlord demanded sex in exchange for lower rents and maintenance work at his properties over the past five years. The women and CNY Fair Housing sued landlord Douglas Waterbury in federal court today, claiming he used his position to sexually harass them starting in 2012.