Report: Nuisance laws disproportionately affect the poor and people of color

TROY, N.Y. » A recent report from a civil liberties group claims the state’s local nuisance abatement laws disproportionately affect the poor, and people of color. The report is by the New York Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberties Union.

According to them, it used information from public records requests filed in 15 cities, one of them being Troy.

“Nuisance ordinances have an outsized impact on poor communities of color in New York, and raise serious legal concerns,” said Scout Katovich, NYCLU legal fellow and author of the report. “Tenants should not be discouraged from calling the police, pushed out of their homes without due process, or face excessive punishments for minor infractions. No one should have to choose between their housing and their safety.”

Between 2012 and 2018, lowincome communities of color in Troy and Rochester were more likely to have nuisance ordinances enforced against them. In Troy, for example, according to the report, the neighborhood with the most enforcement actions had four times the number of black residents as the neighborhood with the least enforcement. In Rochester, the area of the city with the most people of color had five times the number of enforcement actions as the area with the lowest concentration of people of color.

According to NYCLU, most local nuisance laws work on a point system. Police calls to certain properties get those properties assigned points. Accrue enough points and a building can be shut down. Some landlords respond to this by evicting residents, not renewing leases, or discouraging calls from tenants to 911. This can impact the victims of crimes, says the group, and people who had nothing to do with the police call.

The report can be viewed here: https://www.nyclu.org/en/publications/more-nuisance- outsizedconsequences- new- yorks- nuisance- ordinances