Robert Desir, a staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society, and Legal Aid client, Tammie Davis, spoke to City Limits in a piece exploring the paltry resources committed by New York City to fighting discrimination against recipients of housing assistance programs.

Despite widespread discrimination against New Yorkers with government-issued vouchers, the city has only a handful of attorneys and staffers at the two agencies (HRA and CCHR) dedicated to tackling the monumental problem.

Ms. Davis shared her experience of struggling to find a landlord who will accept her Section 8 voucher, noting that “there’s a stigma attached with Section 8, that you’re low-life, low-class, the worst people in the world and you’ll tear your place up.”

In March, The Legal Aid Society filed a federal lawsuit accusing 88 NYC landlords and brokers of systematically denying housing to Section 8 voucher holders after a year-long probe revealed about half of landlords ceased to return calls after finding out the applicant used Section 8 housing vouchers. Advocates are pressing the city to expand these testing efforts to determine the full extent of the problem.

“That requires more intensive investigation to root out, and that goes back to the lack of resources,” said Desir.