Discrimination News

Annual Fair Housing Report Indicates Rise In Discrimination Complaints From People With Disabilities

WASHINGTON - A fair housing report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development highlights the increase in housing discrimination complaints filed by persons with disabilities. The annual report, which goes to Congress this week, also details HUD's handling of 9,254 housing discrimination complaints and documents significant trends in housing discrimination.

In fiscal year 2005, HUD and state and local agencies funded by HUD's Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) saw an eight percent rise in the number of complaints alleging housing discrimination against persons with disabilities, making disability discrimination the most common complaint.

Complaints alleging disability discrimination made up 40 percent of the cases filed with HUD and its state and local partners. Allegations of discrimination based on race made up 38 percent of the cases and 22 percent of cases alleging that a housing provider refused to make a reasonable accommodation to their rules or procedures in order to assist a person with a disability.

"This report confirmed the need for HUD to continue to aggressively protect the rights of persons with disabilities," explained Kim Kendrick, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "No one should be denied housing because they require a guide-dog, an assigned parking space, or some other reasonable accommodation because of a disability."

With the release of this report, HUD announces it has filed a charge against the owners and managers of a Ypsilanti, Michigan apartment complex for retaliating against Harry Tyus because a judge ordered them to make a reasonable accommodation to permit him to pay rent on a different day of the month to coincide with his receipt of his social security benefits.

HUD also announced that a woman who won a $1 million settlement in a recent "reasonable accommodations" case will speak in Washington at a HUD ceremony on April 4, 2006, to commemorate the anniversary of the Federal Fair Housing Act.

Shirley Carper filed a complaint with HUD after a San Francisco condominium complex refused to provide her with a parking space closer to her apartment as degenerative joint disease made it painful for her to climb stairs from the lower-level parking spaces to her unit. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing investigated the complaint under agreement with HUD and obtained a $1 million settlement for compensatory damages in state court.

In FY 2005, HUD released the results of the first examination of housing discrimination faced by people with disabilities, Barriers at Every Step. This report found that a third of the rental properties in the Chicago area are inaccessible to persons with disabilities. In addition, nearly 20 percent of housing providers with on-site parking refused to make the reasonable accommodation of providing a designated accessible parking space for a wheelchair user.

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	The law requires equal pay for equal work The Equal Pay Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the payment of wages or benefits, where men and women perform work of similar skill, effort, and responsibility for the same employer under similar working conditions.