February 10, 2016
The Department and Housing and Urban Development and a group of Connecticut landlords have reached a settlement in a housing discrimination case.
According to a HUD press release, “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced an agreement with a group of Connecticut landlords to resolve allegations they discriminated against families with children. HUD reached the agreement with New Britain-based Green New Britain, LLC, and PBJ Management, and their on-site property manager for allegedly refusing to rent a two-bedroom apartment to a single mother and her two young children.”
Violations of Fair Housing Act laws can affect the home buying process at every level. In this case, the victims were renters, but plenty of people seek rental housing while searching for a new home to purchase. The reasons for this can include relocation due to job requirements, changes in family status, etc.
According to the press release, HUDNo.16-011, “The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to deny or limit housing because a family has children under the age of 18. Housing may exclude children only if it meets the Fair Housing Acts exemption for housing for senior citizens.”
When a property owner refuses to show an available unit to a family because they have children, theyre not only denying them a housing opportunity, theyre violating the law, said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, who was quoted in the press release.
He adds, No one should have to hide who they are or who their family is while looking for a place to live. This agreement reaffirms HUDs commitment to ensuring that housing providers treat all applicants the same, regardless of gender, race or family status.
Sometimes the victim of the discrimination is the only person who has the power to stop it from happening again. According to the press release, “The case came to HUDs attention when a single mother of four-year-old twin boys filed a complaint alleging that Green New Britain, LLC denied her the opportunity to rent a two-bedroom unit in Greenview Apartments because she has children. The woman filed her complaint with the help of Connecticut Fair Housing Center, a HUD partner under the Departments Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP).”
Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed at www.hud.gov/fairhousing or by downloading HUDs free housing discrimination mobile application, which can be accessed through Apple and Android devices.
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It is designed especially for real estate websites; a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those sites. It is simple to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today:
http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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