Civil Rights Feds Tag HOA, Management Co. w/ Fair Housing Suit Over Alleged Overly-Restrictive Occupancy Limit For Homes That Reflects Bias Against Renters With Kids

From the U.S. Department of Justice (Washington, D.C.):

• The Justice Department [] filed a lawsuit against the homeowners association and former manager of a 249-townhome community in Gibsonton, Fla., for violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against families with children.
  
  The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, charges that Townhomes of Kings Lake HOA Inc. engaged in a pattern or practice of violating the Fair Housing Act by adopting, maintaining, ratifying, and, along with Vanguard Management Group Inc., enforcing occupancy standards unduly limiting the number of individuals who can reside in the townhomes.
  
  The suit also charges that the defendants violated the Fair Housing Act by threatening to evict a couple and their six minor children from the four-bedroom townhome they were renting and by taking other actions to interfere with their tenancy.

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• The lawsuit arose when the family filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). After the family had moved into the home, the management company and the homeowners association indicated there was a problem with the number of children living there. The defendants’ occupancy policy allowed only six individuals to occupy the home, which was far more stringent than what Hillsborough County permitted.
  
  The homeowners association also adopted similarly restrictive limitations on the number of individuals who could live in two- and three-bedroom townhomes in Kings Lake. After HUD investigated the complaint, it issued a charge of discrimination and the matter was referred to the Justice Department.

For the Justice Department press release, see Justice Department Files Fair Housing Lawsuit Against Florida Homeowners Association and Management Company for Discrimination Against Families with Children.

For the lawsuit, see U.S. v. Townhomes of Kings Lake HOA, Inc. et ano.