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The Justice Department and HUD recently announced that St. Bernard Parish, La., has agreed to a settlement valued at more than $2.5 million to resolve separate lawsuits by the United States and private plaintiffs claiming that the parish sought to deny rental housing to African Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The government’s complaint alleged that the parish took a number of actions to limit or deny rental housing to African Americans in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Among other things, the parish allegedly:
The developer of a 275-unit rental community in Salem, Ore., recently agreed to pay $80,000 and remove accessibility barriers to resolve a lawsuit claiming disability discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The owners and managers of a Nashville, Tenn., community recently agreed to pay more than $170,000 as part of a settlement resolving allegations that it discriminated against Hispanic tenants based on their national origin. According to HUD’s complaint, the community’s owners and management company allegedly terminated lease agreements, ignored maintenance requests, and intimidated and harassed Hispanic tenants.
The owner and manager of rental property in Albuquerque, N.M., recently agreed to pay $200,000 to settle allegations of discrimination and retaliation against a tenant with a disability.
The owners and managers of 23 rental properties in Mississippi recently agreed to pay $27,000 to settle allegations of housing discrimination against families with children.
The owner of a 60-unit apartment building in Cambridge, Mass., has agreed to pay $25,000 to settle allegations that he discriminated against a family with a young child to avoid an obligation to remove lead paint hazards and later retaliated against them for filing a discrimination complaint, according to a recent announcement by Attorney General Martha Coakley.
A Minnesota condo association and its property managers recently agreed to pay more than $40,000 to settle allegations that they refused to allow children under the age of 18 to live at the property.
In a complaint filed with HUD, a condo owner alleged that the condo association told him and his wife that they were violating its rules by allowing their minor children to live with them for more than 30 days in a calendar year. Allegedly, the condo association levied fines against them and sued them to keep the couple’s children from living with them.
In January 2013, HUD announced an agreement with Bank of America to settle a claim that the mortgage lender refused to provide financing to a lesbian couple. The agreement is the first enforcement action taken against a lender involving HUD’s recent rule ensuring that its core housing programs be open to all eligible persons, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
In January 2013, HUD announced that a Virginia property management company agreed to pay $82,500 to settle allegations that it refused to allow an Hispanic woman to apply for an apartment because she didn’t speak fluent English.
In early December, HUD announced that the Houston Housing Authority agreed to settle allegations of disability discrimination for initially refusing a deaf resident’s requests to have a sign language interpreter present at a hearing to determine her eligibility to remain in HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.
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