Articles in Category: Fair Housing Act

June 25, 2019

HUD Brings Fair Housing Act Charges Against Minnesota Landlords

Housing discrimination can affect potential borrowers and renters at any stage in the house-hunting or home seeking process. Discrimination in rental housing can negatively affect the attempt to find and buy a home in cases where the victim needs to rent a unit while still looking for a house to purchase with a mortgage loan. Housing discrimination of any kind whether in renting or buying is prohibited by federal law. The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced charges against Minneapolis landlords in a Fair Housing Act case involving a rental unit denied to tenants over reasonable accommodation issues. The HUD official site published a press release alleging that the owners “refused to allow a single mother to live with an assistance animal, a cat, for her oldest daughter, | more...

June 6, 2019

HUD Announces Charges In Idaho Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

April was Fair Housing Month, and while HUD’s annual push to raise awareness of housing laws in the United States has come and gone, the agency prosecutes Fair Housing cases year round. One the most recent; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced charges of Fair Housing Act violations against the owners and manager of a rental home in Nampa, Idaho. HUD’s case alleges that a married couple was refused a rental property there because they have children. The Fair Housing Act makes it a crime to “deny or limit housing because a family has children under the age of 18, make statements that discriminate against families with children, and impose different rules, restriction and policies on them” according to the HUD announcement at HUD.gov. “Denying a | more...

May 31, 2019

HUD Announces $1.2 Million To Fight Housing Discrimination

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced $1.2 in funding toward the fight against housing discrimination. The HUD official site made the announcement on May 30, 2019. The federal funding falls under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) to “support the efforts of 11 organizations to educate the public and housing providers about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act.” April, which is Fair Housing Month, saw the agency award $15 million to similar types of organizations nationwide “to conduct a range of fair housing enforcement, capacity building and education and outreach” all designed to end discrimination at all stages of the housing process. The Secretary of HUD was quoted in a press release stating,”HUD’s efforts to fight housing discrimination are force multiplied by local fair | more...

May 24, 2019

HUD Announces Minneapolis Housing Discrimination Case Settlement

By Bruce Reichstein

Sexual harassment that occurs in the context of seeking or keeping housing is a violation of federal law. Some house hunters and renters don’t realize this. They also may miss the fact that renters, house hunters, and home owners also have recourse when they are sexually harassed in the context of finding or keeping a rental property or owning a home. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a Fair Housing case brought against David Sheets, a Minneapolis property owner. According to the HUD official site, the agency has approved an agreement “between a Minneapolis property owner and a female tenant who alleged the landlord solicited sex from her in exchange for a reduction in her rent”. The Fair Housing Act makes sexual harassment associated | more...

April 26, 2019

HUD Announces Settlement In San Diego Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

April is Fair Housing Month, a time when the FHA and HUD raise awareness of Fair Housing Act issues and how violations of Fair Housing laws can make it difficult for house hunters of all kinds to find and keep a home. The month of April is not the only time when HUD publicizes its’ Fair Housing cases, but it is a time to pay more attention to these cases and their implications. The latest involves a settlement between HUD and a San Diego-based property management company that had a dispute with a rental tenant. According to a press release on the HUD official site. The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced “a fair housing agreement between a San Diego-area property management company and a family with a child | more...

April 23, 2019

HUD Announces Settlement In Maine Housing Discrimination Case

By Joe Wallace

April is Fair Housing Month, and while housing discrimination headlines are nothing new, April’s are especially relevant. Discrimination at any stage in the housing process can seriously interfere with those planning to buy a home, and sometimes the only line of defense against further violations of the Fair Housing Act is having the victims report the illegal activity. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a housing discrimination case in Maine. A press release on the HUD official site announces that “Page Realty, LLC, the owner of a Manchester, Maine, rental property, and its rental agent, Ramona Venskus, will pay $18,000 under a HUD Consent Order resolving allegations that they denied housing to families with children”. The Fair Housing Act, a federal law, prohibits housing | more...

April 21, 2019

HUD Awards Millions To Fight Housing Discrimination

By Bruce Reichstein

April is Fair Housing Month, a time when the Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to raise awareness about Fair Housing Act laws, remind people of their rights, and reinforce the agency’s commitment to fair housing for all. As part of that fight to end housing discrimination, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded “an additional $15 million to support dozens of fair housing organizations working to confront violations of the nation’s landmark Fair Housing Act. These grants, made possible through the HUD Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), are intended to help victims of housing discrimination and to raise awareness of fair housing laws. The funds are intended to support a “wide range of fair housing enforcement, education, and outreach activities” under several categories:. Private Enforcement | more...

April 14, 2019

HUD Announces Findings In Illinois Housing Fraud Investigation

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced its’ findings related to the investigation of allegations of housing fraud by a Cook County couple. According to a press release by HUD, “… a Cook County, Illinois couple committed fraud by accepting housing assistance they were not qualified to receive in order to rent a property they jointly owned.” HUD had conducted an investigation into a married couple’s attempts to get rental assistance for a property they own in Matteson, Illinois. HUD alleges that in 2006 the couple, Korey Sloan and Christie Caldwell, and their four children “sought rental assistance from the Housing Authority of Cook County (HACC) to lease the home from Sloan, who posed as an unrelated landlord”. HUD further states that Caldwell “denied any relationship” with Sloan | more...

April 1, 2019

HUD Charges Facebook With Fair Housing Act Violations

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has brought charges of Fair Housing Act violations against Facebook. HUD announced it would charge Facebook “with violating the Fair Housing Act by encouraging, enabling, and causing housing discrimination through the company’s advertising platform.” HUD’s case claims that Facebook illegally restricted “who can view housing-related ads on Facebook’s platforms and across the internet” and also that the media giant “mines extensive data about its users and then uses those data to determine which of its users view housing-related ads based, in part, on these protected characteristics” according to a press release issued by HUD. There’s more; the HUD press release also mentions a HUD claim that additionally, “Facebook combines data it collects about user attributes and behavior with data it obtains about user | more...

March 7, 2019

HUD Announces Housing Discrimination Settlement With Los Angeles County Housing Providers

By Bruce Reichstein

Housing discrimination affects home buyers at every stage of the real estate buying process including those who are in the planning stages of buying a first home and who need an apartment to live in while on the road to becoming a new home owner. HUD has announced a settlement in a Fair Housing Act discrimination case brought against the owners of a Los Angeles County company running a development in Duarte, California. In this case the complaint centers around a housing complex; according to the HUD official site, “The agreement resolves allegations that Downs, LLC and EMNA Management, Inc., the owner and manager of the development, refused to remediate mold at the property as a reasonable accommodation for a couple with disabilities and retaliated against them for asking that | more...