Fair Housing Feds Squeeze $100K Out Of Wisconsin Mobile Home Park Landlord For Allegedly Refusing To Approve Residency For Single Mom w/ 2-Year Old Kid In Area Of Park Where It Did Not Allow Children

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

• The Justice Department announced [] that the owners and operators of Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park in Whitewater, Wisconsin, have agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a Justice Department lawsuit alleging that they unlawfully excluded families with children from significant portions of their 230-lot mobile home park. The settlement must still be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
  
  
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  The lawsuit, filed in October 2014, arose as a result of a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by a single mother and a former resident who had tried to complete the sale of a mobile home in the park.
  
  The defendants refused to approve the application for residency of the single mother who planned to purchase the mobile home and live there with her then-two-year-old child because the home was located in an area of the park where they did not allow children. After conducting an investigation, HUD found that the defendants had violated the Fair Housing Act and referred the matter to the Department of Justice. The defendants in the case include Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park Inc.; Merrill Eugene Gutzmer, the owner of the park; and Dennis Hansen, the resident manager. After the lawsuit was filed, the defendants approved the residency of the single mother who had filed the HUD complaint and she was able to purchase the mobile home.
  
  “Unless a mobile home park meets the very specific requirements to be designated housing for older persons, the owner cannot refuse to sell or rent a home to a family because they have a child,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “Today’s settlement reaffirms HUD’s determination to work with the Justice Department to ensure that occupancy standards established by housing providers do not violate the Fair Housing Act.”
  
  Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the defendants will pay $45,000 in damages and rent credits to the two persons who filed HUD complaints,(1) $45,000 to other persons who are identified later through a claims process established in the decree and $10,000 in a civil penalty. The settlement also requires the defendants to change their policies to allow families with children throughout the park. Anyone who believes that they have been discriminated against by Twin Oaks because they have children should call the Justice Department at 1-800-896-7743, mailbox number 9997 or email the department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov.

Source: Justice Department Obtains $100,000 Settlement in Lawsuit Against Wisconsin Mobile Home Park for Discriminating Against Families with Children.

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(1) According to the consent decree, both the single mom who was rejected for residency (by the landlord who rented the lots in the mobile home/RV park) after agreeing to buy a mobile home from a private seller, as well as the private seller, together filed a HUD complaint, and each get to split $45,000 in damages.