The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has entered into a Voluntary Compliance Agreement with HUD-funded Tennessee housing providers Alco Greenbriar Partners LP, Alco Properties, Inc., and Alco Management, Inc., requiring the respondents to pay $50,000 in compensation to the aggrieved parties. The VCA resolves findings of noncompliance related to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as findings of noncompliance related to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Read the Agreement, Letter of Findings and the VAWA Memo.
The case began with a limited compliance review initiated by HUD in 2022 regarding Greenbriar Apartments, a 208-unit development in Tennessee. HUD found that the respondents effectively denied multiple reasonable accommodation/modification requests, as well as instances of VAWA noncompliance regarding two households that experienced incidents of sexual assault and/or domestic violence and were not provided the requested VAWA transfers or take any additional action to process the requests.
HUD also found that the respondents were unwilling to transfer residents from one Alco property to another when a vacancy that met the need of the requesting tenant was unavailable at Greenbriar, that 5% of the units were not accessible to individuals with mobility impairments, and 2% more of the units were not accessible to individuals with hearing or vision impairments.
Under the 2023 Agreement resolving the Section 504 findings and VAWA issues, the respondents agreed to: pay $50,000 in monetary compensation for the five aggrieved parties; amend its reasonable accommodation transfer log; revise the transfer policy; revise its VAWA policies; construct or convert 10 UFAS-accessible units, with an additional 4 units for the hearing and visually impaired and accessible common areas; designate a VAWA Coordinator; respond to VAWA-related grievances and transfer requests within 10 days; and attend VAWA training.
Anyone who feels they have experienced discrimination in housing may file a complaint by contacting HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (Federal Relay Service). Housing providers' responsibilities to provide reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications to individuals with disabilities are available here.
