HUD Brings Housing Discrimination Charges Against Two Landlords In Separate Actions For Allegedly Hassling Tenants Over Support Animals

From press releases from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

• HUD CHARGES IOWA LANDLORDS WITH DISCRIMINATING AGAINST CHILD WITH CEREBRAL PALSY AND HER MOTHER:
  
  HUD brings the charge on behalf of the child and her mother, claiming the owners refused to allow the seven-year-old girl to have a medically-prescribed emotional support animal. Additionally, the owners allegedly told the mother that if she got the animal, she would have to either move or pay more money to stay.



• HUD CHARGES HOUSING PROVIDERS WITH DISCRIMINATION FOR EVICTING TENANTS OVER VISITOR'S SUPPORT DOG:
  
  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced [] that it is charging the owner and landlord of an apartment building in Reno, Nevada, with violating the Fair Housing Act for evicting two tenants after a friend with a disability visited the tenants with his emotional support dog.

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• According to HUD’s charge, two tenants residing at the apartments in Reno, NV, were visited by a friend accompanied by his medically authorized emotional support dog. After seeing a dog in the building, the landlord of the property told one of the tenants that the building's “no-pets” policy barred their visitors from bringing animals into the unit.
  
  The tenant explained that her visitor’s dog is an emotional support animal and said she could provide documentation that the animal was necessary because of a disability. Nonetheless, one day after the tenants’ friend and his support animal visited again, DeAngeli served the tenants with an eviction notice, and later posted a note near their unit stating, “If harassed or bothered by tenants of these apartments call 911 immediately.”