The Tompkins County Office of Human Rights is commemorating Fair Housing Month with workshops geared toward tenants and landlords.

There will be a fair housing workshop for landlords on Tuesday, April 28th from 5pm-6:30pm at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, 615 Willow Ave, Ithaca, NY. It is free, interactive, and led by Karen Baer, Director of the Office of Human Rights. Landlords should come with questions and discussion topics.

The Federal Fair Housing Act, New York State Human Rights Law, and the Tompkins County Anti-Discrimination Law provide protection from housing discrimination. These three laws combined protect homeseekers from discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, marital status, disability, military status, age, and familial status (having children).

The Tompkins County Office of Human Rights is committed to broadening awareness of Fair Housing laws through expanded education and enforcement initiatives, especially among our most vulnerable populations and encourages all agencies, institutions and individuals, public and private, to take action to end unlawful housing discrimination.

In addition to the landlord workshop on April 28th, the OHR provided a tenants rights workshop for new Section 8 voucher holders at the Tompkins Community Action on April 15, 2015. Tenants were provided with information about their rights under Fair Housing laws and invited to ask questions.

Tompkins County wants you to know that if you suspect unfair housing practices based on race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, marital status, disability, military status, age, and familial status (having children)  you can contact the Tompkins County Office of Human Rights: 120 W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street, Ithaca, NY 14850, 607-277-4080 or humanrights@tompkins-co.org.