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Fair Housing, It’s Their Right!

Our country is sadly riddled with racism and discrimination. We can easily open the newspaper, turn on the TV or read about it on our smart phones, discrimination is prevalent throughout our society. Web based technology (social media) also seems to bring it out of people or just brings it to the surface. I see it on Twitter or Facebook; rants from people ripe with racist views and it permeates like a cancer.

I wonder what it will take for folks to grow up and not be just tolerant of one another but accepting of each other. Is it education or lack thereof…how can we turn this around? We offer a Fair Housing training which I guess is a good place to start, but America we need to get our act together! I truly believe that HUD has taken many great strides in combating unfair housing practices by taking these property owners to task.  Here is the latest list of some of the “bad apples”.

This list was provided be FHEO News;

  1. HUD charged a Pennsylvania landlord with housing discrimination for allegedly refusing to rent apartments to families with children.  HUD’s charge alleges that  Michael DeRomo, who owns and manages rental properties and formerly owned a four-unit building in Coopersburg, posted an online classified ad for one of his Coopersburg units that discouraged families with children from applying.  Specifically, the ad read: “Not suitable for children due to the exterior landing and stairs.”  Read HUD’s charge. Read the full https://archives.hud.gov/news/2015/pr15-123.cfm.
  1. HUD charged Carrol Goodsell and his company, Goodsell General Contracting L.L.C., of Spearfish, South Dakota, with violating the Fair Housing Act by sexually harassing a woman who was renting a single family home managed by him. Specifically, HUD’s charge alleges that Goodsell subjected the woman, who occupied the house with her two children and her boyfriend, to repeated inappropriate sexual comments and physical contact.  Read HUD’s charge. Read the full press release.
  1. HUD charged a group of Colorado landlords with housing discrimination for allegedly relegating families with children to apartments in the rear building of an apartment complex.  HUD charged property owners Roger Loecher and Eileen Loecher, and on-site manager Miriam Yehudah, after fair housing testing discovered illegal “steering” was taking place based upon the tenant’s family status.  Read HUD’s charge. Read the full press release.
  1. HUD charged the owner and managers of an apartment complex in Cross Plains, Wisconsin with violating the Fair Housing Act for failing to take action to stop several tenants from harassing a neighbor, who has cerebral palsy, and her daughter with Down’s syndrome. Read HUD’s charge. Read the full press release.
  1. HUD charged the owner and managers of Bramante’s Apartments, a 120-unit complex in New Brighton, Minnesota, with violating the Fair Housing Act by refusing to allow a resident with disabilities to have a dedicated accessible parking spot.  HUD’s charge alleges that Terry Persaud, Mary Huebner and Persaud Bramante Apartments LLC denied the woman’s request for a reasonable accommodation, which resulted in the woman falling several times because of the distance she had to walk to her unit.  Read HUD’s charge.  Read the full press release.
  1. HUD charged the owners and landlords of a high-rise complex in New York City with violating the Fair Housing Act by refusing to allow a resident with disabilities to have an emotional support animal.  HUD’s charge alleges that Friedman Residence, LLC (formerly called the Aurora), Common Ground Management Corporation, and The Actors’ Fund of America refused to accept that the resident required a dog to cope with the symptoms of his disability.  Read HUD’s charge. Read the full press release.
  1. HUD charged Blackacre, L.L.C. and Alishia Ritchkey, the former owner and manager of Pebble Beach Apartments, a 61-unit complex in Universal City, Texas, with violating the Fair Housing Act by imposing overly restrictive rules on children under 16 who lived there.  HUD also charged Implicity Management Company, the current management company, and Pebble Beach Apartments L.L.C, the current owner of the complex, with discriminating based on familial status. Read HUD’s charge.  Read the full press release.
  1. HUD is issuing a proposed rule that would formalize standards for victims of harassment in housing to bring claims under the Fair Housing Act. The proposed rule, “Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment Harassment and Liability for Discriminatory Housing Practices under the Fair Housing Act,” was published in the Federal Register for public comment.  Read the full press release.

Make sure you and your staff don’t end up on this list…educate them…and not just the property managers, but any staff member who comes in contact with your tenants and your applicants!

Sign up for our next Fair Housing training so you can avoid the embarrassment and the financial hit these owners must now absorb. One can only hope they learn their lesson!

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