NYC’s Commission on Human Rights investigates landlords and real estate brokers who discriminate against rental voucher holders. The agency is already understaffed, sources say.
The NYC Commission on Human Rights—the agency responsible for enforcing civil rights laws that protect against employment, disability, and housing discrimination—saw its budget line shrink in Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s executive budget proposal, published earlier this month.
The cuts would reduce the already slim agency’s budget by 6 percent and slash its headcount by eight full time employees. The Commission on Human Rights had a 23 percent vacancy rate as of March, according to officials who testified before the City Council.
The mayor has been scrounging to close a significant budget deficit with the help of some state aid. While the administration pledged no significant cuts to city services, reductions to the City’s Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) in Mandani’s executive budget are deeper, even, than in his preliminary budget proposal, after an Office of Management and Budget order to cut vacancies in half…