Recent HUD Settlement Updates

HUD announced several notable Conciliation Agreements/Voluntary Compliance Agreements from October to December, 2021, including complaints involving language access rights, landlord liability for neighbor harassment, and COVID-19 visitor restrictions. Summaries are included below.

• Settlements resolve allegations of national origin housing discrimination and access to housing by tenants with limited English proficiency.

On December 28, 2021, HUD announced a Conciliation/Voluntary Compliance Agreement with the owners and management agents of four HUD-subsidized apartment complexes in southern California, resolving allegations that the property managers refused to rent to or provide adequate language services for applicants with limited English proficiency (LEP). The case involved fair housing testing. Read the press release and agreement here.

On October 25, 2021, HUD announced a Conciliation Agreement/Voluntary Compliance Agreement with the owners and management agents of a HUD-subsidized apartment community in Phoenix, Arizona, resolving allegations that they violated the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when they failed to provide adequate language services for a resident with limited English proficiency (LEP). Read the press release and agreement here.

• Settlement involving COVID-19 restrictions and familial status discrimination.

On October 8, 2021, HUD announced a Conciliation Agreement/Voluntary Compliance Agreement with the owners of a HUD-subsidized community in Fairhope, Alabama, resolving allegations that the owners’ policy prohibiting visitors under the age of 12 due to COVID-19 was discriminatory. The case was brought by a resident who was told that she could no longer provide childcare in her unit for her grandchildren due to the policy. Read the full Press Release and Agreement here.

• Settlement resolves allegations by a same-sex African-American couple of neighbor harassment and retaliation by the housing provider after the couple complained.

On October 7, 2021, HUD announced it approved a Conciliation Agreement between the owners of an apartment complex in Tucson, AZ, and a same-sex African-American couple residing at the complex. The settlement resolves allegations that the property owners and manager discriminated on the basis of sex and race when they failed to address the couple’s complaints of neighbor harassment, which included physical intimidation and disparaging statements being made about the couple’s race and sexual orientation. The owners also retaliated against the couple for complaining about the harassment. Read the full Press Release and Agreement here.