Articles in Category: Fair Housing Act

December 24, 2018

HUD Announces Settlement In Housing Discrimination Case

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced a settlement in a New Jersey housing discrimination case. According to the HUD official site, Tamaron Association, which represents a condominium development in Waldwick, New Jersey must pay $9,000 under an Initial Decision and Consent Order. The order addresses allegations that the association refused to sell a condo to a man with disabilities and his wife, “because the couple planned to have their adult, disabled daughter live with them” according to a HUD press release. Fair Housing Act laws forbid denying or limiting housing to those with disabilities, and it is a violation of federal law to refuse reasonable accommodation for those with disabilities. “No family whose members have disabilities should be denied the reasonable accommodations they need to make | more...

October 31, 2018

HUD Announces Charges In New Jersey Housing Discrimination Case

By Bruce Reichstein

There are many types of housing discrimination, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development actively pursues complaints of Fair Housing Act violations. The most recent was announced on the HUD official site in a press release titled, “HUD Charges New Jersey Condo Association with Discriminating Against Resident with Disabilities”. According to the press release, HUD’s allegations include charges that the condo association “only allowed the resident, who is sight and hearing impaired, to use the service door instead of the main entrance to the development or the common areas when accompanied by her assistance animal.” The press release says there are other allegations, one being that the condominium association charged the resident’s daughter a fee “because she walked her mother’s assistance animal in the development’s common areas”. It is | more...

September 17, 2018

HUD Announces Settlement In Nevada Fair Housing Act Harassment Case

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a Fair Housing Act case in Reno, Nevada. According to the HUD official site, the settlement involves a “…Conciliation Agreement between Reno, Nevada-based CMS Property Services, LLC, and its property manager and a female tenant, resolving allegations that the manager sexually harassed the woman.” Some are not aware that Fair Housing Act regulations include a prohibition of sexual harassment, but federal law makes it illegal for a housing provider to sexually harass tenants. The HUD official site says this rule includes, “creating a severe or pervasive hostile housing environment, or conditioning housing or housing-related services on the tenant’s acquiescence to sexual demands. The Act also prohibits retaliating against persons who complain about housing discrimination.” Often the only line | more...

June 15, 2018

HUD Settles Housing Discrimination Complaint Against San Francisco Real Estate Companies

By Bruce Reichstein

There are many types of housing discrimination; some occurs when a house hunter is searching for a home, trying to rent in the local area and encountering violations of the Fair Housing Act while trying to do so. Other types of housing discrimination can occur in the house hunting process itself. Housing discrimination may come from a variety of sources; including, in the case of a recent HUD Fair Housing settlement, real estate firms. The HUD official site announced a settlement in June in the case of two San Francisco-based real estate companies accused of Fair Housing Act violations. HUD approved “a Voluntary Compliance/Conciliation Agreement settling a complaint filed by a family whose infant has a disability against San Francisco, California-based John Stewart Company and Hunters Point East West, LP.” | more...

February 20, 2018

HUD Announces Resolution In California Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced the resolution of a California Fair Housing Act discrimination case. According to a press release at the HUD official site, the agency has reached an agreement with the Housing Authority of the County of Contra Costa (HACCC) and the Vallejo Housing Authority (VHA), “resolving allegations that they violated the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act when they allegedly denied a request by a resident with disabilities to extend her search time to find suitable housing that would accept her Housing Choice Voucher”. Fair Housing Act laws make it illegal to discriminate against those buying or renting a home by “denying or limiting housing to persons with disabilities, or discriminating in | more...

January 22, 2018

HUD Settles California Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a California Fair Housing case. According to a press release on the HUD official site, the agency “has reached a conciliation agreement with the Richmond Housing Authority (RHA) in Richmond, California, settling allegations that it discriminated against a resident with disabilities.” Federal Fair Housing Act regulations prohibit the discrimination in the process of selling or renting a place to live because of the applicant’s disability. Fair Housing laws also forbid refusal to make reasonable accommodations for those disabilities. The settlement is the result of a resident’s complaint, “alleging that the Richmond Housing Authority failed to renew his Housing Choice Voucher before it expired” according to the press release. The complaint states that the resident submitted a request to | more...

December 15, 2017

HUD Announces Settlement In California Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a California Fair Housing Act case. According to a press release on the HUD official site, HUD has entered into an agreement “with the owner and property manager of Shadowbrook Gardens Senior Townhomes in Morgan Hill, California, a city in Santa Clara County, resolving allegations that they discriminated against a resident with disabilities”. A tenant of that property, “requested to have a live-in aide and a key to a locked gate near her unit that would make it easier for her to come and go” according to the HUD press release, which adds that in each case, “the owner and property manager allegedly asked her intrusive questions about her disability, challenged whether she really had a disability, asserted | more...

November 17, 2017

HUD Charges Kansas Property Owners With Fair Housing Violations

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is charging a Kansas landlord with Fair Housing Act violations after allegations of sexual harassment. According to a press release on the HUD official site, the agency “announced today it is charging the owner and landlord of several rental properties in Wichita, Kansas, and his wife, who co-owned one of the properties, with housing discrimination after the landlord allegedly sexually harassed two female tenants at his properties. HUD’s charge further alleges that he also made discriminatory statements based on one of the women’s race”. The Fair Housing Act prohibits a wide range of discriminatory practices in housing including sexual harassment. According to the HUD official site, it is a violation of Fair Housing laws to “discriminate against individuals on the basis of | more...

October 4, 2017

HUD Announces Settlement In Fair Housing Complaints Against The State Of Maryland

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a Fair Housing case involving complaints against the State of Maryland. According to HUDNo.17-088, the agency has “…announced an agreement to resolve a discrimination complaint brought by fair housing advocates against Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) challenging the fairness of the State’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program.” Under the terms of the agreement, new or modified policies, incentives, and “more flexible program rules” will be enacted to “streamline the creation of affordable housing in higher opportunity neighborhoods in the Baltimore region”. The origin of the case involved a complaint filed with HUD in 2011. The Baltimore Regional Housing Campaign (BRHC) reported to HUD that the state of Maryland, “maintained a policy requiring local jurisdictions to | more...

June 1, 2017

HUD Announces Settlement In California Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a California Fair Housing Act discrimination case. According to the FHA/HUD official site, HUD “reached an agreement with the owner and manager of a California apartment complex, resolving allegations they discriminated against tenants because of their national origin and familial status. Two related complaints filed with HUD alleged that the manager of the Four Palms Apartments in Mountain View, California, made discriminatory statements about Latino residents and prohibited their children from playing outside”. Such discrimination is not permitted under federal Fair Housing Act laws. “A family’s right to enjoy their home shouldn’t depend on where they are from or whether they have children,” said Bryan Greene, HUD’s General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, who | more...