The Justice Department announced that the owners and property managers of a 15-unit apartment community have agreed to pay $40,000 to settle allegations that they failed to stop disability-related harassment of a resident’s daughter by neighbors and then refused to renew their lease because of her disability and that of her daughter.
This is the first of four articles that MHCO spotlights settlements reached in fair housing cases. The amounts reportedly paid are sometimes staggering—which is news in and of itself—and show just how much it can cost to resolve fair housing complaints. But the real news is in the backstory, the events that led to a complaint against the community.
10 Essential Rules for Avoiding Fair Housing Trouble
The Justice Department recently filed a lawsuit alleging that the owners and managers of residential rental housing in Honolulu, Hawaii, refused to rent to families with children, in violation of federal fair housing law. The lawsuit alleges that the three properties are operated as student housing for post-secondary students.
The owners and managers of a single-family rental home in Idaho recently agreed to pay $15,000 to settle allegations that they violated fair housing law by refusing to rent the large home to a married couple because they have more than four children.
Fair Housing Testing - a tool used by enforcement officials and private fair housing organizations to ferret out unlawful housing discrimination.
Fair housing testing involves paired testers—individuals with similar credentials but of different protected classes—who may contact your community by email, phone, your website, or by a site visit to check for differences in how they’re treated based on their race, national origin, or any other characteristics protected under federal, state, or local law.
HUD recently announced that it has charged a landlord and its property managers in Manchester, N.H. with violating the Fair Housing Act by retaliating, threatening, or interfering with a tenant’s fair housing rights.
Fair housing law generally prohibits discrimination based on familial status, but there’s a limited exception that applies to senior housing communities that qualify as “housing for older persons.” To qualify, senior housing communities must meet strict technical requirements. Unless they satisfy those requirements, communities may not enforce “adult only” policies or impose age restrictions to keep children from living there.