Saturday, September 17, 2016

Major Midwest Landlord Gets Tagged With Fair Housing Complaint; Owner/Operator Of Over 8,000 Rental Units Accused Of Discriminating Against Tenants With 'Big Families' (2 Adults + 3 Kids Seeking Large 2-Bedroom Apartment)

The Fair Housing Center of Southeast & Mid Michigan, a non-profit, fair housing organization, recently announced:
  • [W]e joined the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan (FHCWM) and three other fair housing groups to announce the filing of a fair housing complaint against AMP Residential, an Indianapolis-based property management company that owns and operates over 8,000 rental housing units in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Alabama.

    In each of the 20 properties named in the complaint, AMP was found to have denied housing to families with children despite the apartments having ample square footage for the family size to be allowed by local codes. Not only were the families prohibited from living in particular units, many were denied from the complex all together due to their family size.

    According to the complaint, “In the summer of 2015, after receiving a complaint that Respondent [AMP] refused to allow a woman and her husband to rent a large, two-bedroom unit because the family had three children, Complainant FHCWM opened an investigation of Respondent’s housing practices. FHCWM engaged the other Complainants to investigate Respondent’s conduct in their respective jurisdictions.

    As part of Complainants’ investigation, Complainants conducted a series of controlled tests in which testers contacted Respondent’s properties seeking to rent two-bedroom units for their families consisting of two adults and three children.”