Write a commentOn Tuesday, April 7, staff from CNY Fair Housing came to Oswego to talk about receiving fair treatment as a tenant or home buyer.
Executive Director Sally Santangelo led the session, while Director of Community Engagement Tysha Martin was also on hand to speak with attendees about specific questions. Santangelo encouraged those in the room to ask questions and talk about specific issues they were facing to provide support where it was most needed.
For CNY Fair Housing, the most common complaints they deal with across the region include discrimination based on disability—which make up well over half of the organization’s case load in any given year—as well as discrimination based on lawful source of income (such as paying for housing with Section 8 vouchers) and race.
Common areas of contention that Santangelo has seen include disagreements about service animals, handling hoarding disorders, and practices like lying about housing availability to prospective tenants on public assistance—a practice that is often also worsened by racism. “Some landlords will talk to a Black person on public assistance and claim not to know what they have available,” Santangelo said, “but when someone inquires who is white and privately employed, suddenly they know exactly what they have.” The organization conducts secret shopper-like investigations when suspicions or accusations of wrongdoing like this arise to independently establish the pattern. The organization has also handled some cases of neighbor-on-neighbor harassment, though Santangelo noted, "Criminal harassment has a very high bar [to reach for a conviction in court]."
Also covered in the session was information about what reasonable modifications may look like, and how the word “reasonable” may be interpreted by the courts. One example given was that landlords may be reasonably expected for leniency surrounding clutter in the home of someone who suffers from a hoarding disorder, but they are generally still empowered to take action when hoarding creates safety hazards for the tenant and/or other tenants. “I’m not an attorney,” Santangelo said as a disclaimer, “but I do have 15 years of experience in this particular field.” CNY Fair Housing has legal standing to bring cases to court even when complainants are afraid or unwilling to speak publicly, so Santangelo has spent plenty of time in and around court rooms.
The session also included a broad overview of the organization’s role in protecting fairness throughout the CNY region—the non-profit serves 17 counties, which comprise a total of 488 different municipalities. Residents may recognize the organization as the one which conducted investigations into and continuous monitoring of Doug Waterbury, leading to him being barred from managing his own properties from 2018 until 2023 and then his ultimate arrest in early March 2026 for attempted rape, attempted bribery of a witness, and other charges.
The two women offered a wealth of knowledge and support to attendees, who included both renters and service organizations who offer supports to renters (and home owners) who may be subject to discriminatory or unfair practices.
The organization also held a morning session focused on maintaining compliance and safety as a landlord or property owner, to help property owners avoid running afoul of the law.
For more information about CNY Fair Housing or to submit a housing complaint, visit their website, https://www.cnyfairhousing.org/.
