November 2, 2016
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is bringing charges against the Ohio Housing Authority for what it says are violations of the Fair Housing Act.
At first glance, a Fair Housing Act case against a state or local housing authority might not seem to have much to do with FHA mortgage loans, but the fact is that fair housing issues affect people at all levels of the home loan process, whether planning or actually purchasing. The family or individual that needs to rent, utilize public housing, or take other steps to find or use housing before purchasing a home is entitled to the same rights as those currently purchasing.
Violations of those rights can negatively affect a potential borrower’s ability to find an purchase a home, which is why we report on Fair Housing issues here. The Ohio case was announced on the FHA/HUD official site, which states, “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it is charging the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority in Warren, Ohio with violating the Fair Housing Act by denying the reasonable accommodation requests of a family that includes a father and daughter with severe disabilities”.
Fair Housing Act laws forbid denying or limiting housing to persons with disabilities, but there’s also a prohibition from “refusing to make reasonable accommodations in policies or practices for people with disabilities” according to the press release on the HUD official site.
When families are living with disabilities, landlords have a legal responsibility to grant reasonable accommodations, said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, who was quoted in the release. He adds, HUD will continue to confront this type of housing discrimination whenever it occurs.
This case was brought to the attention of HUD when, “the four-member family participating in the Housing Choice Voucher Program filed a complaint against the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority after it denied their request to move from their two-bedroom apartment into a unit that was appropriate for their disability needs. The family submitted a request to occupy a home that had two additional rooms to separately accommodate the fathers dialysis treatments and a daughters disability”.
The case has not been resolved at the time of this writing, but we will run an update when the matter is closed. House hunters, renters, or potential mortgage loan borrowers who feel their Fair Housing Act rights have been violated should report the matter to the HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed by going to www.hud.gov/fairhousing.
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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