Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Florida HOA and Property Management Company for Illegal Occupancy Limits against Families with Children

The Justice Department announced yesterday that the Townhomes of Kings Lake HOA Inc. (HOA) and Vanguard Management Group Inc. have agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA).  The lawsuit alleged that the HOA adopted and both defendants enforced occupancy limits that discriminated against families with children at the Townhomes of Kings Lake, a 249-townhome community in Gibsonton, Fla.

Under the proposed consent decree, which must still be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the defendants will pay $45,000 to the family that initiated the original complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), $85,000 into a victim fund to compensate other aggrieved families, and $20,000 to the United States as a civil penalty.  In addition, the proposed consent decree prohibits the defendants from discriminating in the future against families with children and requires the defendants to receive training on the requirements of the FHA.  In January 2013, while the lawsuit was pending, the HOA modified its occupancy limits to permit four occupants in 2-bedroom townhomes, six occupants in 3-bedroom townhomes, and eight occupants in 4-bedroom townhomes.

Click on icon above for DOJ Press Release

Cincinnati landlord to pay $855,000 for sexual harassment complaints

A Cincinnati landlord agreed to an $855,000 civil judgment against him, after admitting he violated the Fair Housing Act as alleged in a federal complaint filed by the Justice Department.

New Report Uncovers Housing Discrimination Against the Latino Community

                                         Click on the above for FULL STORY

Every year, there are more than four million incidents of housing discrimination that occur in the United States. Yet these incidents are tremendously underreported, particularly within the Latino community. A new NCLR and Equal Rights Center (ERC) report, “Puertas Cerradas: Housing Barriers for Hispanics,” takes a closer look at the housing experience of Hispanics in three Southern cities: Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; and San Antonio, Texas. Although the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on national origin, our investigation reveals that Latinos continue to face adverse or differential treatment when trying to buy or rent a home.

Ohio Fair Housing group gets new trial in discrimination suit over ‘bachelor pad’ apartment ad

Click on above for FULL STORY

CINCINNATI — Fair housing advocates on Monday won a new trial in a federal lawsuit against an Ohio company that advertised an apartment as “a great bachelor pad” for men looking to “hook up.”

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a second trial to the nonprofit Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, saying the judge at the first trial erred in giving incorrect and prejudicial jury instructions.