Fair Housing Testers Ambush Another Landlord; Owner/Operator Of 300 Pittsburgh-Area Residential Apartments Accused Of Refusing To Reasonably Accommodate Tenants With Mobility Disabilities By Denying Their Requests For Assigned Parking Spaces

From the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development:

• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced [] that it is charging a group of landlords in the Pittsburgh area with discriminating against prospective residents who have disabilities. HUD claims the owners and property managers of Beechwood Gardens in Pittsburgh and Southpointe Towers in West Mifflin denied housing to testers posing as prospective renters by refusing to grant them reasonable accommodations. Read HUD’s charge.
  
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  The case came to HUD’s attention when the Fair Housing Partnership of Pittsburgh, Inc., filed a complaint alleging that A.Z. Zytnick, LLC, S & J Ventures, LP and the Allan Zytnick Trust Fund discriminated against prospective renters with disabilities. The parties own and/or manage the 144-unit Beechwood Gardens apartments in Pittsburgh and the 157-unit Southpointe Towers apartments in West Mifflin.
  
  HUD’s charge alleges that the owners and managers at Southpointe Towers sent residents a notice stating that there would “no longer be any assigned [parking] spaces, no exceptions, even for people with disabilities.”
  
  The Fair Housing Partnership of Pittsburgh(1) conducted a series of tests using testers posing as rental applicants who required designated parking spaces due to mobility disabilities. HUD alleges that respondents denied these testers requests for assigned parking at both Southpointe and Beechwood Gardens.
  
  HUD’s charge will be heard by a United States Administrative Law Judge unless any party to the charge elects to have the case heard in federal district court.

Source: HUD Charges Pittsburgh-Area Landlords With Housing Discrimination Based On Disability.

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(1) The Fair Housing Partnership Of Greater Pittsburgh is a nonprofit organization serving southwestern Pennsylvania through fair housing advocacy and comprehensive housing counseling services, acting as a fair housing advocate and enforcer of fair housing laws, and providing education and outreach to the community regarding the Fair Housing Act.