Housing Discrimination in Georgia: 

Cartersville, Georgia Motel Manager Pleads Guilty to Coercing Labor and Sex Acts by Female Tenant

According to court documents, the 70 year-old manager of the Budgetel Motel hired her as a house cleaner, knowing that she had been homeless, struggled with heroin addiction, and lost child custody. He promised that he would help her regain custody of her child by providing her pay, an apartment, and an attorney. Instead, he monitored her interactions with motel guests and employees, forbade her from speaking to them, and made numerous sexual overtures. He threatened to evict her from the room and threatened to report her drug use to law enforcement or child welfare agencies. He regularly “evicted” her from her motel room, locked her out of her room at night without warning, and required her to perform oral sex on him to stay at the motel. If she did not, Tiwari removed her from the property, causing her to be homeless. 

Sentencing is set for September 6, and the man faces a penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to pay just over $40,000 in restitution to his victims. 

A federal judge will determine any sentence based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

Read the June 1, 2023 USDOJ release.

 Discrimination in Rental Housing

Property Management Company to Pay Nearly $75,000 to Resolve Service Members Civil Relief Act Claims

The U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) has announced that FPI Management Inc. (FPI) has agreed to pay $74,087 to resolve allegations that it violated the Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) by imposing unlawful charges on nine service members who were exercising their right to terminate their apartment leases after receiving military orders to relocate. The SCRA extends various protections to service members to allow them to devote their entire energy to the national defense, including protections for service members in areas such as evictions, security deposits, pre-paid rent, civil judicial proceedings, installment contracts, interest rates, foreclosures and automobile leases; and allowance to terminate their residential leases after entering military service or receiving military orders for a permanent change of station, deployment or retirement. Landlords are prohibited from imposing an early termination charge on service members who terminate their leases under the SCRA.

The USDOJ started investigating FPI’s leasing practices after receiving a referral from Coast Guard Legal Assistance about two times where FPI attempted to require service members who were terminating their leases early under the SCRA to repay discounts they had received when they signed the lease in Oakland, California. Under the consent order, FPI has agreed to pay $51,587 to the service members and a $22,500 civil penalty. The order also requires FPI to repair the service members’ tenant database entries, implement new policies and procedures complying with the SCRA, and train employees on the SCRA. 

Service members and their dependents who believe that their rights under the SCRA have been violated should contact the nearest Armed Forces Legal Assistance Program Office. Office locations: legalassistance.law.af.mil. 

Read the June 13, 2023 USDOJ release.

 Recent Fair Housing News: 

HUD Announces $837.5 Million from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to Improve Housing Quality and Reduce Energy Costs for Underserved Communities

The May 11, 2023 NOFA provides new funding from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and $4 billion in loan commitment authority will make HUD-assisted multifamily housing more energy efficient, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and improve climate resiliency. The availability of new funding through the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the energy and water efficiency and climate resilience of HUD-assisted multifamily properties serving low-income residents. 

The Act provided HUD with $837.5 million in grant and loan subsidy funding, $4 billion in loan commitment authority for this new program, and $42.5 million for a new HUD initiative launching later this summer to collect and assess energy and water usage data from HUD-assisted multifamily housing properties to better target opportunities to save energy and water, cut costs, and reduce emissions. Building owners will be able to invest in technologies, such as solar panels, heat pumps, wind-resistant roofing, insulation, low embodied carbon materials, and other measures that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make properties healthier and safer for residents. 

Read the May 11, 2023 HUD release.

 

HUD Charges New York Corporation and Associated Entities for Targeting Black Caribbean Homeowners in Fraudulent Mortgage Scam

HUD has charged multiple entities and individuals related to the Homeowner Assistance Services of New York (HASNY) with housing discrimination for perpetrating a scheme to deceive distressed homeowners into forfeiting title to their homes. HUD’s charge alleges that HASNY – plus six individuals, Springfield Realty of New York, Inc., Martin Development and Management, LLC, Launch Development, LLC, 272 Milford Street, LLC, Advill Capital, LLC, and Petermark II, LLC - targeted New York City homeowners in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Read the Charge. 

The Charge, filed on behalf of seven homeowners, alleges that HASNY and its associates targeted the homeowners for fraudulent mortgage and foreclosure prevention assistance by filing illegitimate liens and using telemarketing to convince homeowners to engage with HASNY for refinance assistance. After the homeowners accepted their offer of assistance, they used false promises of legal assistance, reassurances, and outright lies to convince the homeowners to sign documents that unknowingly sold their homes to Martin Development, LLC and Launch Development, LLC, which resulted for most forced them to vacate their homes. HASNY’s actions were disproportionately concentrated in neighborhoods which had a high majority of persons of color, especially Blacks and of Caribbean descent. They also used “affinity marketing” to gain the trust of elderly, vulnerable, and distressed homeowners by having telemarketers use their shared national origin and cultural practices to build trust with the homeowners. 

The U.S. Department of Justice previously criminally charged 3 of the men, as well as several other HASNY employees, with bank and wire fraud crimes from the conduct alleged in the Charge. Two respondents pleaded guilty and one was convicted after a jury trial and later disbarred. 

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

Read the June 13, 2023 HUD press

Affordable Housing News: 

Mortgage Assistance Program Expansion Estimated to Help More Than 1,000 Additional Marylanders Stay in Their Homes. 

Since the Homeowner Assistance Fund Program Began in 2021, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (MDHCD) has assisted over 11,000 Marylanders residents behind on payments and housing costs, including 6,000 who were facing foreclosure. The Department has expanded the program to add an additional option for mortgage servicers to provide eligible homeowners with relief as interest rates have risen and affected the affordability of some loan modifications. The program now is able to fund up to six months of forward payments for eligible applicants, and is estimated to help more than 1,000 additional Marylanders. 

The Homeowner Assistance Fund offers legal assistance, loan modifications with payment of delinquent mortgages, grants to avoid displacement due to property taxes, association and water and sewer fees, and other housing related costs. So far, the program has provided more than $125 million to eligible homeowners, with an average of $17,100 of assistance for each household. No additional application is required to be considered for the new forward payment option, and the Department is also reviewing past applications to determine if those homeowners would be eligible for the forward payment option and reaching out to them to offer assistance. 

For detailed information on eligibility and to apply for assistance: homeownerassistance.maryland.gov. The HAF program was established by the American Rescue Plan Act enacted in 2021 to help homeowners experiencing financial hardship after January 21, 2020. The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Developm​ent was awarded a total of $248 million to administer through the program. 

Contact Brandi Bottalico, Office of Public Information - brandi.bottalico@maryland.gov.

 June Edition of "Fair Housing E-News"

FAIR HOUSING E-NEWS

June, 2023

Welcome to this edition of Fair Housing E-News! This newsletter is produced by the GBCHRB

as a public service. More info/resources: http://www.gbchrb.org. Just a few of the headlines are:

NLIHC’s Out Of Reach 2023: The High Cost Of Housing Shows Rents are Moving Further out of Reach for Low-Income Renters As Pandemic-Era Benefit Programs Expire.

Read the NLIHC Summary of its 2023 Out of Reach report.

Out of Reach 2023 is available at: https://nlihc.org/oor.

Study Finds Baltimore Children who moved from High-Poverty to Low-Poverty Areas had Improved Asthma. Read the May 16, 2023 Baltimore Sun article.

Maryland Finds Erie Insurance Illegally Rejected Baltimore Auto Customers in Minority Neighborhoods. Read the June 6, 2023 Baltimore Sun article. Read the June 1, 2023 Baltimore Banner article.

Justice Department Secures Over $3 Million Redlining Settlement Involving ESSA Bank & Trust in Philadelphia. www.justice.gov/fairhousing.

Federal Housing Administration Launches 30 New Resources to Remove Language Barriers in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese for Borrowers.

Read the June 13, 2023 HUD release.

KeyBank & Capital One Lose Their Access To New York City’s Business. "NYC Regulator Halts City Deposits at Key Bank, Capital One," Banking Dive, May 26, 2023. NCRC Just News/ May 25, 2023 Press Release.

To read this issue of Fair Housing E-News: fhnews2023jun.pdf.

Contact the GBCHRB for free Fair Housing training.

GBCHRB

P. O. Box 66180

Baltimore, Maryland 21239-6180

http://www.gbchrb.org

443.347.3701

 Book Review

A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal

Elie Wiesel, fwd. Little, Brown and Company: 2009. Pp xvi, 228. $24.99.

This memoir by the late Thomas Buergenthal (1934-2023), a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague as well as in several other human rights courts, tells how his survival of Auschwitz which he entered at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp influenced his long career as a stellar human rights lawyer and advocate. As the Amazon book description concludes: "A Lucky Child is a book that demands to be read by all."

"It was more than luck and the good for­tune of his ​“Aryan” fea­tures that enabled him to sur­vive the war — it was his strength, wis­dom, and enor­mous faith that he would one day sur­vive and be reunit­ed with his parents. Amaz­ing­ly, Thomas was reunit­ed with his moth­er short­ly after the war and then moved to the Unit­ed States and began a career as lawyer and then as a judge. He has ded­i­cat­ed his career to fight­ing against the human rights vio­la­tions that he expe­ri­enced as a child."

*****

Sources:

(1) Amazon book description.

(2) Read the book review in ReformJudaism.org.

(3) Read the December 22, 2011 Jewish Book Council book review.

(4) Photo courtesy of Amazon.com.