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Fair Housing Act

9th Circuit rejects “equal opportunity harasser” defense

When accused of sexual harassment, an employer or landlord sometimes tries to defend the claim by arguing that he treated male and female employees or tenants alike so no discrimination was involved, i.e., no one was treated differently “because of sex.” If this defense is a good one, then people could avoid liability under antidiscrimination laws by attempting to treat men in the same way they treat women and then argue that their sexual harassment of women was not...

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Fair Housing Act claim available for racial harassment by one owner against another but no claim against the homeowners association itself even though the harassers were president of the HOA

When an African American couple bought property and were subject to taunts and told they were unwelcome by other owners, they had claims against those owners under the Fair Housing Act both by “making housing unavailable” under 42 U.S.C. §3604(a), and “interfering” with others in the “enjoyment of… right[s] granted by [the Fair Housing Act].” Watters v. Homeowners’ Ass’n at the Preserve at Bridgewater, 48 F.4th779 (7th Cir. 2022). However, even... Read more about Fair Housing Act claim available for racial harassment by one owner against another but no claim against the homeowners association itself even though the harassers were president of the HOA

Disparate impact claim unavailable against public water utility for increasing the security deposit required of public housing tenants

The Ninth Circuit held, in Southwest Fair Housing Council, Inc. v. Maricopa Domestic Water Improvement Dist., 17 F.4 950 (5th Cir. 2021), that no violation of the Fair Housing Act occurred under a disparate impact theory when public housing tenants were required to pay a new higher...

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Sexual harassment of tenant by property manager violates Fair Housing Act

The Eleventh Circuit joins other courts that have held that sexual harassment by a landlord (or an agent of the landlord) can constitute sex discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §3601 to §3613 if the behavior would not have occurred but for the tenant's sex.

This formulation has been adopted by other courts, see United States v. Hurt, 676 F.3d 649 (9th Cir. 2012), Quigley v. Winter, 598 F.3d 938 (8th Cir. 2010), and suggests that a landlord that sexually harasses both men and women would not be liable for engaging in sex discrimination — a result that...

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Trump administration withdraws Obama era rules on “affirmatively furthering fair housing” (AFFH)

Although the Fair Housing Act (FHA) requires any government entity managing or receiving federal funds “affirmatively to further fair housing,” (AFFH), 42 U.S.C. §3608(e)(5), enforcement of this provision has been remarkably lax since the passage of the FHA in 1968.

 

The Obama Administration...

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City can enforce ban on pit bulls against resident who needs emotional support animal when he had other dogs that might serve that purpose

The Nebraska Supreme Court faced a claim by a resident that he had a right under fair housing laws to a reasonable accommodation of a city law that prohibited residents from owning pit bulls due to their perceived dangerousness. Wilkison v. City of Arapahoe, 926 N.W.2d 441 (Neb. 2019). Because the resident had other dogs, and he could not prove that they could not serve...

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Resolving conflicts between tenant with allergies and those needing support animals

In a case typical of a property law class, the Supreme Court of Iowa confronted a conflict between one tenant who needed an emotional support animal and another who was allergic to dogs. Cohen v. Clark, 945 N.W.2d 792 (Iowa 2020). The lease for both tenants contained a “no pets” clause. The question was whether the landlord had a duty under fair housing laws to make an exception...

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Virginia prohibits sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in housing and public accommodations

By passage of the Virginia Values Act, Virginia joins 22 other states and the District of Columbia in prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations and housing (as well as employment). Va. Stat. §2.2-3904 and §36–96.3 (as amended by 2020 Va. H.B. 1663 (Feb. 27, 2020)).

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Landlord may be liable for fair housing violation if no response to one tenant's racial harassment of another

 

In the case of Francis v. King's Park Manor, Inc., 2019 WL 6646495 (2d Cir. 2019), a tenant engaged in a vicious campaign of abuse and intimidation of another tenant, coming to his door and threatening to kill him and repeatedly yelling at him and calling him the...

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Fifth Circuit rules that landlord rejection of Section 8 housing voucher recipients does not violate the Fair Housing Act by imposing a disparate impact on the basis of race

Persons in need of financial assistance to afford housing are in a variety of categories of persons protected by the Fair Housing Act. African Americans are more likely than white persons to be poor; women of all races are more likely to be poor than men; persons with disabilities are more likely to need government assistance than...

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