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| WA State FAIR HOUSING UPDATE: July 2006 |
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Julie White is interested in renting a house from David Haskins, who is concerned about maintenance around the place. David asks if she has a man around to assist her with yard upkeep and repairs. Is this discriminatory? The fair housing prohibitions on advertising based on protected class apply to all written or oral notices or statements by a person engaged in the sale or rental of a dwelling. It is illegal to express to a prospective renter any preference for or limitation because of sex. It's okay for David to notify all prospective tenants that the rental includes yard maintenance and repairs. However, he should not act on an assumption that Julie can't manage the upkeep by herself because she is female. Larry Green, who is a wheelchair user, is charged $300 for the damage deposit on his new apartment. A few weeks later, he learns that another new tenant who has no disability was charged $200 for a damage deposit. Is this discrimination? Fair housing laws require that housing providers treat applicants and tenants similarly. They cannot set special conditions for some tenants due to their protected class, such as charging people with disabilities higher rates than others. It may be that Larry and the other tenant rented two apartments with quite different rent and deposit rates, in which case, the difference in damage deposits is justified by business necessity. However, if management charged Larry a higher deposit solely because he uses a wheelchair, this would be discriminatory. Tenant Winton has complained that her neighbor has harassed her and her children. What should management do? Ideally, management will have a nonharassment policy that has been shared with all staff and tenants. Management staff can follow the steps outlined in the policy to deal with this situation. Keep in mind that the word "harassment" means different things to different people. When a tenant reports that she has been harassed, management staff should discuss the situation with Ms. Winton and ask what specific words and behaviors were involved. If Winton reports negative comments or actions that appear to be based on her protected class, management should take appropriate action, making sure to document the incident and the actions taken to alleviate it. If it appears that the harassment complained of involves the protected class of Winton's family (for example, their race or national origin), management should take effective steps to eliminate the neighbor's behavior, up to and including eviction if necessary. Police were called to Cheryl Anderson's apartment when her live-in partner beat her up. Cheryl immediately obtained a court order to prevent her partner from returning and let the housing provider know about it. The housing provider decided to enforce the "zero-tolerance no violence" policy and asked all occupants of her unit to vacate. Is this discriminatory? In 2001, HUD investigated a similar case in Oregon, where the female tenant believed that it was wrong to evict her for her husband's actions after she had done all she could to prevent further violence. HUD noted that the apartment management may have neutral reasons for their zero-tolerance policy. In this case, however, there was no evidence to support an assumption that people living near a household that has incidents of domestic violence will themselves become victims of that violence. HUD's determination pointed out that apartment managers need to take into account the individual circumstances of each case, as well as the actions a domestic violence victim has taken to prevent a recurrence. In the Oregon case, HUD determined that sex discrimination had occurred, finding that the "policy of evicting innocent victims of domestic violence because of that violence has a disproportionate adverse impact on women and is not supported by a valid business or health or safety reason by the [apartment management]." HUD determined that "because domestic violence affects women disproportionately, this kind of zero-tolerance policy hurts women far more than men." HUD's decision cited national statistics showing that women are five to eight times more likely than males to be victimized by an intimate, and that 90% to 95% of victims of domestic violence are women. Oregon's statistics are comparable. Thus, the housing provider's "zero-tolerance no violence" policy cannot be applied in situations where women are the victims of domestic violence. The landlord or manager cannot legally terminate a woman's lease, refuse to renew her lease, evict her, or refuse to rent to her just because she is a victim of domestic violence. If the woman obtains a valid court order that excludes someone who is on her lease from the home, the landlord must change the locks upon request at the woman's expense, if she provides the landlord with a copy of the court order, and the landlord cannot give copies of the new keys to the tenant excluded from the home. However, the housing provider can end a woman's tenancy or evict her for other lawful reasons, such as failure to pay rent. The Fair Housing Partners of Washington have developed a brochure for applicants and tenants titled "Fair Housing and Your Housing Rights." The brochure is available in English, Spanish, Cambodian, Chinese, Russian, and Vietnamese. Order print or CD copies from the King County Office of Civil Rights (206-296-7592) or see the brochure online at www.metrokc.gov/dias/ocre/DV-Engl.pdf. The Washington State Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (RLTA), RCW 59.18, was revised in March 2004 to provide guidance for housing providers when tenants or applicants are domestic violence victims. For more information, see "Landlord/Tenant Issues for Survivors of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and/or Stalking" online at www.nwjustice.org/pdfs/6304.pdf. KCOCR Fair Housing Home Page Your comments about this Web site Updated: Aug. 1, 2006 King County | DES | OCR | News | Services | Comments | Search Links to external sites do not constitute
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