Fair Housing / Lending News

Last November, we reported on Gallagher v. Magner, 619 F.3d 823, 829 (8th Cir. 2010), and its potentially lethal effect on a cornerstone of Fair Housing actions: disparate impact and the application of the McDonnell-Douglas “burden-shifting” analysis. However, on Friday, February 10, 2012, the parties withdrew the case from the US Supreme Court just a few weeks before the scheduled argument of February 29. The US Supreme Court granted the withdrawal. The parties in the case were the City of St. Paul, Minnesota (namely, the Department of Neighborhood Housing and Property Improvement [DNHPI]), and property owners who allege that their homes were targeted by housing code enforcement personnel and their draconian treatment of so-called violations of the housing code. The Plaintiffs brought suit against the City of St. Paul and the DNHPI alleging that the city’s enforcement of its housing code had a disparate impact on minority home and property owners, “whose customers were mainly indiv...

The ongoing effort to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, some six years ago, continues, but all has not been well on the path to recovery. A few months ago, we posted a story on “ The Road Home ”, a program which would put thousands of people in newly-constructed homes, but the program was not without its’ faults. This time, however, residents are fighting back against housing discrimination. The Times-Picayune published news in the beginning of this month stating that a group of New Orleans landlords agreed to pay around $70,000 in damages and penalties to settle various suits against them by prospective tenants. Read the story here . These lawsuits alleged that the landlords denied housing to African-Americans at an apartment building which makes it ripe for a Fair Housing Act claim. The lawsuit alleges that Betty Bouchon, the building manager, failed to return calls from African-American testers while returning phone calls from white testers, made statements to white teste...

In a rare, multi-million dollar settlement, the Code Enforcement Board (CEB) of The City of Treasure Island, agreed to pay the sum of 3.7 million dollars to Gulf Coast Recovery, and its proprietor, Matthew Schwarz in a settlement agreement after several unsuccessful attempts at litigation. A small city on Florida’s gulf coast, Treasure Island’s population of 7,500 doubles during the winter months; the warm climate and attractive coastal location a favorite of vacationers and “snowbirds” (a Floridian term for retirees from northern states). As a result, the City of Treasure Island’s zoning scheme has come up with unique ordinances to deal with the ebb and flow of its population throughout the year. The City created a limit on the number of times a “single family or two family dwelling” can change occupancy during a twelve month period in certain areas zoned for single-family dwellings, in order to keep vacationers and snowbirds from disrupting “the sense of community of its permanent r...

Some five years after Hurricane Katrina dissipated, its after effects continue to ring out in Louisiana. But the bell tolls louder for some, than others. The Road Home (TRH) program was designed by former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, whose mission is “to provide compensation to Louisiana homeowners affected by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita for the damage to their homes.” Claiming themselves to be “the largest single housing recovery program in U.S. history”, The program’s objective is “to provide compensation to Louisiana homeowners affected by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita for the damage to their homes.” TRH came about as a block grant program to assist in the recovery of the region ravaged by hurricane Katrina. These grants were placed in the State of Louisiana for designation. Approximately $11 billion was allocated for TRH, which was developed by the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA). The Department of Housing and Urban Development, or, HUD, also helped develop TRH. HUD is also t...

Marie Claire Tran-Leung disagrees. According to Tran-Leung, “Landlords and local housing authorities should stop using arrest records to screen tenants.” She states that doing so does “more harm than good.” Although it is illegal for landlords to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disabilities, and other protected classes under the Federal Fair Housing Act, most states have also applied protection to other classes. For example, the State of Illinois prohibits discrimination based on ancestry, age, marital status, and sexual orientation. Discrimination against people with arrest records, however, is legal. But should it be? Tran-Leung claims that discrimination based on arrest records “give[s] people a false sense of security against crime, and they deprive disproportionately more racial minorities of needed rental housing for nothing more than an unproven accusation.” Read the full story here . Tran-Leung cites a recent decision by the Illinois Appellate...

Chak Man Fung was the owner of an apartment that rented to three individuals one of them was Jennifer Ho. Ho acted as Ho’s agent when choosing renters. When Diana Lin decided to move out before her lease was up she found Meki Brachen to move in. Lin said she would not rent to blacks, additional Fung would also not allow Brachen to move in and barred any attempts. Ho and Meki Brachen filed racial discrimination charges against Fung and Lin. Several notifications by first class mail and Fed Ex were sent out and neither defendant answered. Finally after a fourth notification, Ho, but not Fung showed up for a hearing on remedies. Ho appeared without counsel and asked for a postponement because she realized that she needed counsel but her attorney was unavailable for the date. Additionally she explained that she had not wanted to read the legal notices and had just opened them days before the hearing. The ALJ denied the motion for a continuance, observing that Ho had only herself to...