Feds Put Squeeze On Vegas Landlords Accused Of Discriminating Against Families With Children; Tenant Gets $30K Settlement To Resolve Claims

In Las Vegas, Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun reports:

• The federal government recently settled a complaint against the owners of Las Vegas apartments who allegedly discriminated against families, the third such case in the valley in two years.

• The repeated cases involving hundreds of apartments mean “there definitely is discrimination against families with children” in the Las Vegas Valley, said Chuck Hauptman, a representative of the Housing and Urban Development Department’s San Francisco office of fair housing and equal opportunity.

• He said the agency wants valley landlords to be on notice that this is illegal, a message that’s especially crucial when families with children are among the many seeking rental housing in the wake of the valley’s foreclosure crisis.

• In the most recent case, which was settled in October, HUD, rather than the victim, had filed the complaint, indicating the alleged discrimination was flagrant and easy to prove.(1)

For the rest of the story, see U.S. strikes at landlord bias against children (HUD gets payments to families, message to apartment owners).

(1) According to the story, the allegations were resolved when the landlord agreed to pay the tenant $30,000 and to set aside money for any other victims, as well as to stop the policy of not renting to children. In another case, HUD allegations were reportedly resolved when the landlord agreed to pay $75,000 total to four families the apartment management evicted or attempted to evict. Some of the settlement money was set aside to compensate any victims who come forth in the future.