September 13, 2011
A recent press release issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development underscores the FHA and HUD’s commitment to the Fair Housing act. The release details actions taken by HUD against a Wisconsin landlord for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act.
While a press release about a discrimination issue connected with rental property might not seem to have much to do with FHA home loans at first glance, it does underscore the need for FHA borrowers to report such discrimination wherever they encounter it in the loan or house hunting process.
According to HUD press release 11-207, “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is charging a La Crosse County, Wisconsin landlord with violating the Fair Housing Act for refusing to rent a house to a single mother because there was no adult male to live with her. HUD brings the charge on behalf of the single woman, claiming that the owner of the property, Dovenberg Investments, LLC and property manager Darlene Dovenberg refused to rent a house in rural Bangor to the woman because she, among other things, did not have a man ‘to shovel the snow’…”
The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination of any kind based on (but not limited to) sex or family status. According to John Trasvi