The Astor on Third II, one of the apartment complexes accused of violating accessibility law.
Fair Housing Justice Center v. Developing New York State LLC et al
A group of developers, designers, property owners and architects were hit with a federal suit alleging they neglected to follow multiple disability access laws when constructing three properties in Brooklyn and Queens.
“How buildings are designed impacts people’s lives every day,” said Diane Houk, an attorney representing Fair Housing Justice Center, the nonprofit bringing the suit in the Eastern District of New York. “If every day you’re living in a space where you can’t [use your home], that gnaws away at you.”
The Fair Housing Justice Center alleges a group of six developers — all managed by the Rabsky Group — and three architects and interior designers — New York Building Associates, Whitefield Architects and Durukan Designs — flouted provisions in the Fair Housing Act and New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws outlawing housing discrimination against people with disabilities and requiring all units be accessible when they constructed three new buildings in Long Island City and DUMBO, then misrepresented compliance with those laws to the city.
Rabsky Group and all named defendants did not respond to requests for comment
Violations in the three properties — The Northern and The Astor on Third II in Long Island City and Bridgeview in DUMBO — are “strikingly common,” said Houk, a partner at the firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. Some include doors and bathrooms being too narrow for people using wheelchairs and mobility scooters to move through or use, too-high steps up to balconies and terraces, and amenities, like washing machines, dryers, light switches and temperature controls, placed out of reach of those using mobility devices.
“They could have built to meet the accessibility standards that we’ve had for 30 years in this country, but they chose not to pay attention,” Houk said. “And they’ve chosen not to do it repeatedly in buildings before this case as well.”
There are pending accessibility lawsuits against Rabsky Group affiliates for properties in Brooklyn, and others recently settled with the Fair Housing Justice Center in a similar suit regarding accessibility violations at The Astor on Third I, a sister building to the one named in this suit.
The Fair Housing Justice Center became aware of the developers’ alleged illegal conduct at these three properties after conducting undercover inspections of their units in 2024, posing as prospective tenants looking to rent units.
Houk said the center feels the city may be better equipped to conduct oversight of developers than it is, as a small nonprofit.
“Right now, the city allows developers to self-certify that they’re complying, and the Fair Housing Justice Center, particularly in the last 10 years, has just become very concerned that this self-certification process is not working,” Houk said. “There needs to be some kind of inspection done by the city before the building is allowed to open to ensure that the building has been built according to accessibility requirements.”
A request for comment to a City Hall spokesperson on whether the Mamdani administration would consider creating a policy to carry out these inspections was not returned.
In the suit, plaintiffs are demanding that developers retrofit the three buildings to comply with accessibility laws and to pay into the Fair Housing Justice Center’s fund for low and mid-income tenants to make improvements to bring their apartments up to code.
