Recent HUD Fair Housing Discrimination Action - Sexual Harassment

In Washington, D.C., the Department of Housing & Urban Development recently announced the commencement of the following administrative action against a landlord's managing agent and employees for alleged sexual harassment against their tenants:

• HUD Charges South Dakota Property Manager w/ Housing Discrimination For Sexually Harassing Female Tenant (charging the landlord's managing agent with violating the Fair Housing Act by sexually harassing a woman who was renting a single family home managed by him. Specifically, HUD’s charge alleges that managing agent subjected the woman, who occupied the house with her two children and her boyfriend, to repeated inappropriate sexual comments and physical contact. Read HUD’s administrative complaint).
  
  HUD’s charge alleges that managing agent, who had been hired to make repairs to the house and was managing it for its owner, allegedly made numerous sexually explicit statements to the woman, including requesting favors. managing agent also allegedly made inappropriate physical contact with the woman and on at least one occasion used his key to enter the rental home while the woman was inside, without the woman’s permission. The woman complained to the owner about managing agent’s behavior, sought a court order and filed a police report, but the harassment continued, ultimately forcing the woman to move out.

For guidance on how to deal with predatory landlords seeking sexual favors, see:

• New housing rule protects most vulnerable women from sexual harassment in their home,
  
• Sexual Harassment & Fair Housing Toolkit (courtesy of The Equal Rights Center).

For what may still be the the largest monetary settlement ever agreed to in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department under the Fair Housing Act, see California Landlord Settles Sexual Harassment Lawsuit for $2.13 Million.