Cases and Settlements

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) recently filed a housing discrimination complaint with federal and state authorities accusing an Arkansas community of refusing to rent to Latinos and discriminating in the conditions or terms of rental based on national origin and/or race. The community is now part of a large company, which owns and operates 19,000 apartments throughout the southeastern United States.

The Iowa Civil Rights Commission recently announced a settlement with the owner, builder, architect, and management company of a multifamily housing complex after its testing revealed alleged violations of design and construction accessibility requirements under federal and state law.

The community consists of four apartment buildings, a community building, tenant and visitor parking, and outside recreation areas. Each apartment building houses 30 units, with 10 units on each of the three stories.

The Justice Department recently filed a lawsuit alleging that the Housing Authority for the City of Ruston, La., has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against African-American applicants and residents in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

The Ruston Housing Authority is a public housing authority that provides housing for persons of low income in Ruston. Currently, the housing authority owns and maintains five housing complexes in Ruston, according to the Justice Department.

HUD recently charged the owners of a West Virginia mobile home community with discriminating against a resident with a disability by refusing his request to keep his emotional support animal. Federal fair housing law requires housing providers to make reasonable accommodations in their rules, policies, practices, or services when needed to provide persons with disabilities an equal opportunity to use or enjoy a dwelling.

The owners of two New Jersey apartment buildings recently agreed to pay $21,000 to resolve allegations of housing discrimination against African-American prospects.

The Justice Department recently filed a lawsuit accusing the owners, builders, and designers of an eight-unit rental complex in Helena, Mont., with violating fair housing law by designing and building the complex with barriers that make it inaccessible to persons with disabilities.

Last week, the Justice Department announced that a Florida condominium association and its former management company have agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a fair housing claim alleging that they enforced occupancy limits that discriminated against families with children.

Last week, the Justice Department announced that a Minnesota community and its property management company agreed to pay $30,000 to resolve a lawsuit alleging discrimination against Somali prospects on the basis of race and national origin.

There has been an uptick in the government’s efforts to detect and pursue violations of fair housing accessibility requirements. Since January 2009, HUD and its fair housing partners have investigated and either settled or charged 300 cases that alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act’s design and construction requirements. During the same period, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has filed 19 cases alleging failure to design and construct multifamily housing in compliance with fair housing requirements.

A Massachusetts landlord and property manager have been ordered to pay more than $38,000 in a housing discrimination case alleging discriminatory online advertisements against families with young children, according to a recent announcement by Attorney General Martha Coakley.