April 19, 2016
Fair Housing laws don’t just protect home loan applicants. They also protect renters and house/home hunters in the process of trying to find a place to live.
You may not think that a housing discrimination case against a renter or potential renter has much to do with FHA loans, but consider the large number of people every year who must relocate due to employment or education needs and it’s clear that even for those who haven’t committed to an FHA mortgage yet, fair housing issues can affect your journey to a new place to live.
That’s one reason why we report on cases like the recent HUD charges brought against a Kansas landlord. According to a press release on the FHA/HUD official site, ” U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today it is charging landlords in Beloit, Kansas with violating the Fair Housing Act after allegedly discriminating against a female tenant with disabilities by not renewing her lease, sending her a notice containing discriminatory statements about her disability, and retaliating against her for filing a previous fair housing complaint”.
Federal Fair Housing laws make it illegal to discriminate against someone looking for housing on the basis of a disability. Federal law also prohibits retaliating against someone for making a fair housing complaint.
“No one should have to deal with the prospect of losing their home because they have a disability or be subjected to retaliation for standing up for their rights,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, who was quoted in HUDNo.16-051, adding, “Landlords are required to grant reasonable accommodations when tenants need them and HUD will continue working to ensure that they meet that obligation.”
HUD was made aware of this issue when according to the press release, “the resident, who has a physical disability that substantially limits her ability to walk and sometimes requires the use of a wheelchair, filed a complaint with HUD alleging the Blass Family Trust, owner, and Lois Blass, trustee and property manager, of rental homes in Beloit, Kansas, discriminated against her due to her disability and retaliated for filing a previous fair housing complaint.”
Further details in this case include the resident alleging that, “the property manager of the single family home she was renting sent her a letter stating that she was a holdover tenant and that she should move to housing ‘designed for handicapped persons.’ The letter also stated that the home was ‘not designed for a handicapped person’ and urged her to move out, while tenants at other properties were not given similar notices and were allowed to keep renting month-to-month. The tenant moved out of the rental home and into a less accessible and more costly rental property.”
HUD pursues cases like these, but often the only way they can take action is by getting a report from the victim of the discrimination. Those who feel they have been discriminated against in the search for housing should report their complaints to the HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at: (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Housing discrimination complaints can be filed online at www.hud.gov/fairhousing.
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It is designed especially for real estate websites; a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those sites. It is simple to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today:
http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
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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