Fair Housing Act

Federal judge denies summary judgment in case alleging town interference in granting permits for housing for homeless persons

/ Fair Housing Act

South Middlesex Opportunity Council, Inc. v. Town of Framingham, 2010 WL 3607481 (D. Mass. 2010). In this case, Judge Douglas Woodlock allowed a suit to proceed against a town and individual members of the town meeting, the board of selectmen and the town planning board in both their individual and official capacities alleging that defendants violated the Fair Housing Act by blocking plaintiff non-profit organizations from obtaining necessary approvals to establish housing to provide residential treatment and support to homeless and at-risk families, some of which were undergoing substance abuse rehabilitation and some of which may have had criminal histories. The court found that the town had repeatedly delayed in issuing permits and created other procedural hurdles and that evidence supported the allegation that the town did so for discriminatory reasons. The court found evidence of discriminatory statements by individual defendants and evidence of disparate treatment of similarly situated projects by …

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Craigslist seeks to prevent discriminatory housing ads

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Fair Housing Act, Sexual Orientation

Craigslist.org now is seeking to prevent discriminatory housing ads (including roommate ads) on its website by posting the following message before one is allowed to fill out a classified housing advertisement: “Stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal, is prohibited on craigslist, and can be expensive:  you can be fined more than $10,000 for each discriminatory ad, plus damages in court, plus loss of license if you are a professional. Avoid phrases which could be interpreted as discriminating by race/color/origin (e.g. ‘hispanic area’), religion (e.g. ‘christian home’), age / familial status (e.g. ‘no kids’), disability, sexual orientation, or source of income. The words you choose can cost you – get the facts and avoid being prosecuted under fair housing law.”

Co-ops accused of racial bias

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Co-Ops, Fair Housing Act, Restraints on Alienation

Two Bronx communities organized as co-ops require references from three co-op members in order to buy units. After using testers, the Fair Housing Justice Center has filed a lawsuit arguing that this requirement has a discriminatory effect when existing co-op members are overwhelmingly white and when the requirement was not consistently applied. Read article.

Town faces Fair Housing Act lawsuit for moratorium on multi-family housing

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Fair Housing Act

A nonprofit organization named Mano en Mano that sought to build multi-family housing affordable by farm workers was stymied by a change in the town’s zoning law placing a moratorium on all multi-family housing. That change in the law may have been motivated by racially discriminatory motives (by at least some townspeople) against the mostly Latino farm worker population and the nonprofit organization has sued the town of Milbridge, Maine claiming that the change in the law violates the Fair Housing Act. For background on the case see here. Perhaps in response to both the lawsuit and the publicity generated by the moratorium, the town voted on Nov. 16, 2009 to rescind the moratorium, allowing the construction of the housing project to go forward. Read article.

Circuit split over whether Fair Housing Act regulates post-acquisition discrimination

/ Antidiscrimination Law, Fair Housing Act

The federal courts cannot agree on the question of whether the Fair Housing Act (FHA) applies only to discrimination in acquiring or renting property or also applies to post-acquisition discrimination in provision of services. The Fifth Circuit held, in Cox v. Dallas, 430 F.3d 734 (5th Circ. 2005), that African American residents of a neighborhood afflicted with an illegal dump had no remedy against the city that failed to clean it up. The court held that the dump merely made the housing less habitable but did not make it “unavailable” as required by 42 U.S.C. §3604(a) and that the prohibition against discriminatory terms in the sale or rental of a dwelling was inapplicable to city actions when the city was not the seller or renter of the property. For background on the case see here. Similarly, the Seventh Circuit ruled in Halprin v. Prairie Single Family Homes of Dearborn Park Assoc., 388 F.3d 327 (7th …

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