August 22, 2016
The Fair Housing Act was passed to protect those in search of housing, whether they need to rent or purchase. Discrimination against a renter or potential renter is just as serious as discrimination against those who wish to purchase housing; many who want to buy a home must seek out rental property in the meantime and violations of the Fair Housing Act affect these renters who intend to be owners.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development aggressively pursues cases of housing discrimination regardless of renter/buyer status and one of the most recent cases stems from a complaint lodged by a single mother in Georgia.
According to a press release on the HUD official site, “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced it is charging a Georgia couple with housing discrimination for refusing to rent an apartment they owned to a single mother and her son.”
“HUDs investigation alleges landlords James and Ella Collier denied one womans application because she had a 14-year-old son and that they had a NO CHILDREN stipulation in multiple lease agreements with other tenants.”
The Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination against those who seek housing based on non-financial reasons such as family status. “Its quite simply against the law to deny a person housing simply because they have children living with them, said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, who was quoted in the press release. HUD will continue to take enforcement action whenever the rights of families are violated.
This issue was brought to the attention of the federal government thanks to the victim of the alleged discrimination filing a complaint alleging “that the Colliers, owners of a number of rental properties in East Point, Georgia, refused to rent an apartment to her after learning she had a 14-year-old son” according to the HUD official site.
In 2013, the release states, “the woman noticed a ‘For Rent’ sign in the window of one of the Colliers properties and sought information from the landlords and was asked a series of questions related to her employment and her family size. The woman told HUD that Ella Collier said she ‘would not rent to applicants with children'”.
The press release adds that HUDs charge is to be heard by United States Administrative Law Judge, “unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court. If an administrative law judge finds after a hearing that discrimination has occurred, he or she may award damages to the complainants for their loss as a result of the discrimination.”
The victim of Fair Housing Act violations is often the only one standing in the way of the perpetrators getting away with the illegal activity. The FHA and HUD can’t respond to complaints that are not lodged, and the government urges all who feel their fair housing rights have been violated to contact HUD directly at their toll free number, 1-800-669-9777 (voice) or via TTY at 1-800-927-9275.
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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