HUD Charges Macon, Georgia, Property Owner, Property Management Company, and Property Manager with Disability Discrimination

 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has charged Macon, Georgia, property owner, property management company, and property manager, Macon MF, LLC, Active Property Management LLC, and Michael Bailey, with discrimination against a tenant because of her disability. HUD also charged them with retaliating against the tenant. Read HUD’s Charge.

HUD’s Charge of Discrimination alleges that the Respondents did not grant required reasonable accommodations when the Complainant requested an assistance animal and an alternate bathroom while the Respondents were renovating the sole bathroom in her unit. The Charge also alleges that the Respondents terminated her tenancy in retaliation for requesting the reasonable accommodations.

HUD's charge will be heard by a U.S. Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court. If an ALJ finds after a hearing that retaliation has occurred, they may award damages to the complainant for harm caused by discrimination, injunctive relief, other equitable relief, payment of attorney fees, and fines. If the Charge is decided in federal court, punitive damages may also be assessed.

People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). More info: www.hud.gov/fairhousing. Housing providers and other interested persons can learn more about their responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications to individuals with disabilities here. Materials and assistance are available for persons with limited English proficiency. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing can contact HUD using the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

Read the November 7, 2024 HUD release.

HUD Charges Owner & Operators of New Hampshire Apartment Buildings with Disability Discrimination

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has charged Good Team Realty LLC, Jack O Cohen Revocable Trust, and Jack Cohen, owners and operators of more than 40 rental apartments in New Hampshire, with discriminating against potential tenants because of disability. The Charge alleges that the Respondents violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to negotiate for and show an available apartment to prospective tenants who used assistance animals for their disabilities. Read HUD’s Charge.

“In 1988 the Fair Housing Act was extended to protect persons from discrimination in housing because of a disability, yet people with disabilities continue to be subjected to discriminatory treatment,” said Diane M. Shelley, HUD’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "Today's action demonstrates HUD's ongoing commitment to take appropriate action when housing providers fail to comply with the Fair Housing Act."

HUD’s Charge of Discrimination alleges that the Complainants spoke with property owner, Jack Cohen, about renting an apartment and that during the conversation the Complainants revealed that they had an assistance animal. The Charge further alleges that the Complainants arranged to meet Mr. Cohen to view the apartment but that Mr. Cohen refused to allow the Complainants inside the apartment because they did not have medical documentation verifying their need for the assistance animal with them at that time.

A U. S. Administrative Law Judge will hear HUD’s charge unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court. If an administrative law judge finds, after a hearing, that discrimination has occurred, they may award damages to the family for their losses as a result of the discrimination, injunctive relief, and other equitable relief, as well as payment of attorney fees. In addition, the judge may impose civil penalties and punitive damages to the complainant.

Go to HUD Fair Housing.

HUD Charges Florida Property Owner, Management Company, and Property Manager with Disability Discrimination

 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has charged Tallahassee, Florida, housing providers Greenbriar Partners, LLC, Jackson Properties and Financial Services, LLC, and Erwin D. Jackson (the “Respondents”) with violating the Fair Housing Act by failing to grant a tenant with a disability a reasonable accommodation to allow the tenant to live with an emotional support animal. Read the Charge here. The Fair Housing Act (“the Act”) prohibits discrimination because of disability, including the denial of reasonable accommodations. Individuals with disabilities have the right to reasonable accommodations when such accommodations are necessary to afford them equal access to their home, including the use of assistance animals. “The Fair Housing Act requires housing providers to make reasonable accommodations necessary to afford persons with disabilities an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling,” said Damon Smith, HUD General Counsel. “The Department will take action to ensure housing providers comply with their obligations to provide necessary reasonable accommodations.” HUD’s Charge of Discrimination alleges that the Respondents failed to grant the Complainant’s requested reasonable accommodation for an assistance animal. That denial led to economic loss, lost housing opportunity, and emotional distress. The Charge of Discrimination also alleges that the Respondents violated the Act when they threatened the Complainant with an eviction because of her reasonable accommodation request. HUD's Charge will be heard by a U.S. Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) unless any party to the Charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court. If an ALJ finds after a hearing that a violation of the Act has occurred, they may award damages to the Complainant for harm caused by discrimination. The ALJ may also order injunctive relief and other equitable relief, fines to vindicate the public interest, and punitive damages. Read the September 23, 2024 HUD release.

The Difficult Problem of Fighting Source of Income Discrimination

 

Over 2 million low-income families use Section 8 housing vouchers to cover their rent. The program is one of the federal government’s most effective, keeping more than 5 million individuals housed. Nationally, all vouchers are getting used. But housing voucher discrimination limits where exactly recipients can live. A household with a voucher sometimes discovers that the only willing landlords are in unsafe neighborhoods, or that they must need to move into a different school district to use the voucher. There also are a number of landlords who say that the reason why they're not renting to someone is because of the voucher when really it is because of their racial discrimination or discrimination on the basis of disability. 

To combat this, 17 states and dozens of cities and counties ban source-of-income discrimination covering almost 60% of renters. Enforcement of these laws, though, is lacking or spotty in many places. The best systems for enforcement include well-publicized outreach to property owners and the real estate community to inform them of the law and their obligations. 

The most powerful method of enforcement involves “testing,” in which a government agency or nonprofit organization submits two very similar rental applications to a property owner, with one application including a housing voucher and the other without. Authorities than can determine if discrimination possibly is suspected, and proceed with enforcement. Subsequent publicizing of those results and getting public judgments is important to show other property owners that the city or state is serious about voucher discrimination enforcement. 

However, such testing is expensive. Funding for housing discrimination testing comes primarily from HUD, which until February 12, 2024, did not give funding to its funded agencies to do sources-of-income discrimination investigations. This decision to fund HUD recipients is a positive development. Unfortunately, most agencies and nonprofits do not receive HUD funding, and cannot do testing because of the cost. Commitment and action by these authorities is also needed to reduce this stubborn problem.

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Read the Route Fifty January 31, 2024 article.

HUD Increases Efforts to Reduce Source of Income Discrimination

HUD recently took an important step forward to protect families with vouchers, authorizing the use of federal Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) funds by state human rights agencies for testing and investigation of source of income discrimination cases. This follows a similar 2021 memo authorizing source of income discrimination testing and investigations at HUD funded fair housing centers.

Specifically, HUD informed organizations and agencies funded under HUD’s Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) that funding can be used to support "source of income testing activities, source of income testing projects that are designed to uncover discrimination that violates the Fair Housing Act or substantially equivalent state or local fair housing laws.

In addition, HUD informed Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) grantees that FHEO will approve and pay for FHIP testing activities as long as they are designed to identify violations of the Fair Housing Act, whether they be instances of intentional discrimination, discrimination with unjustified discriminatory effects or less discriminatory alternatives, refusals to grant reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities, or cases where discrimination erodes compliance with the duty to affirmatively further fair housing. Some state and local fair housing laws, which have been deemed by HUD as substantially equivalent to the federal Fair Housing Act, may include “source of income” or the like as a protected class. Testing for discrimination because of someone’s source of income could be funded with FHIP PEI funds because such discrimination can violate the Fair Housing Act.

This memorandum also clarifies that FHAP funds can be used to conduct source of income testing activities to detect discrimination that may violate the Fair Housing Act or substantially equivalent state or local fair housing laws. 

In accordance with 24 C.F.R Part 115, FHAP agencies are permitted to use HUD funds to enforce substantially equivalent local or state laws. FHAP agencies may use FHAP funds to conduct source of income testing as an investigative tool in processing dual-filed complaints. FHAP funds may also support source of income testing activities as part of special enforcement efforts, partnerships initiatives, or other fair housing projects developed by FHAP agencies to enforce state or local fair housing laws. 

HUD said that it is doing this because one specific type of source-of-income discrimination - based on someone’s use of a Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) - remains extremely high. This is important particularly because the HCV program is HUD’s primary program to assist very low-income families, elderly persons, and individuals with disabilities to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private housing market. Under the law, HCV participants can apply to any housing meeting HCV requirements are not located in subsidized housing projects. In practice, housing providers - especially those with units in low-poverty, well-resourced neighborhoods - often refuse to rent or sell to voucher holders. And because households who use HCVs are disproportionately Black, Hispanic, people with disabilities, families with minor children, and female-headed households, discrimination against voucher holders can violate the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition on discrimination because of protected characteristics, including but not limited to race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status.

HUD regards fair housing testing as a critical investigative tool because it effectively detects hidden disparate treatment in housing practices. However, the Department urges FHAP agencies to not limit their testing and enforcement programs to intentional discrimination. HUD encourages testing activities designed to identify discrimination that violates the Act - through disparate treatment or unjustified discrimination. 

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Read HUD's February 12, 2024 Source of Income Discrimination Memorandum.