Dennis Norman Musings

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

I would think that anyone that owns rental property today would be aware of of the fact that it is illegal to discriminate when it comes to housing, but at times I wonder.  I say that because in a post I wrote in a post late last year about Fair Housing, I cited the following fact:

… a report that had just been issued by The National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity which stated, among other things, “discrimination continues to be endemic, intertwined into the very fabric of our lives.  Ironically, even though more Americans than ever are living in diverse communities, residential segregation remains high……there are at least 4 million fair housing violations in our country every year.”

• Case 1 – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday announced that it has charged a Cranston landlord and real-estate company with housing discrimination for refusing to rent to families with children.  HUD charged the Velna Marti Irrevocable Income Trust and two real-estate professionals at Re/Max Five Star with violating the Fair Housing Act.

According to HUD’s charge: In March, 2008, Cheryl Lee Brill and Wally Wetherbee, a REALTOR(R) and administrator for Re/Max, advertised for rent on Craigslist.com a house owned by respondent Velna Marti Irrevocable Income Trust.  The ad stated, “This is an immaculate spacious three-bedroom house for rent..No cats, dogs or children please.”  Two families with children responded to the advertisement.  When they mentioned they had children Wetherbee allegedly refused to show them the property, saying that the owner would not rent to families with children.  The owner eventually rented the house to three men without children.

• Case 2 - The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the owner and employees of Rolling Oaks Apartments, a 72-unit complex in Clanton, Alabama, for violating the Fiar Housing Act by discriminating on the basis of race or color in the rental of apartments.

The lawsuit, alleges that the employees, Kenneth R. Scott and Frankie L. Roberson, told white testers that a selling point of Rolling Oaks Apartments was the lack of African American tenants and that they had adopted rental policies intended to discourage African American rental applications.  The complain also names Chandi Biswa, the owner of the complex.

• Case 3 – The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) announced a housing discrimination lawsuit against the nation’s largest classified advertisement publisher, American Classifieds, LLC for publishing house ads that state children are not allowed.  NFHA filed the lawsuit after a year-long investigation that uncovered over 60 discriminatory advertisements in 17 of the states where American Classifieds does business.

Examples of these advertisements, which discriminate against home-seekers with children, include:

• 3BD 1 BA, house $800.  No kids allowed.
• Suitable for 1, possibly 2.  $500 monthly.  Part-time animal care, $110 off rent.  Adults only.