Recent Manchester HUD Charges
Under the Fair Housing Act victims of housing discrimination may seek justice in a variety of ways. While many go to court, one of the main ways that victims of discrimination can protect their rights is through the complaint process with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”). Under this process anyone can file a brief complaint on their own or with the assistance of a HUD representative or attorney. The process is informal and allows victims of housing discrimination easy access to potential relief. Filing a complaint will lead to HUD investigators being assigned to investigate your complaint and potentially refer it to HUD or the federal Department of Justice to enforce your civil rights.
Recently, New Hampshire’s regional HUD and DOJ offices have been active regarding a number of Fair Housing complaints filed by local residents. In October HUD and the Department of Justice brought two new charges against landlords in Manchester.
The first charge involved a complaint against a landlord who refused to rent to a tenant with disabilities. This tenant required the use of an emotional support animal to alleviate their mental health disabilities. When the applicant showed up to tour the apartment and did not have her medical verification for her emotional support animal on hand the landlord stated that the meeting was over, walked away, and refused to discuss the rental of the property.
Under the Fair Housing Act a landlord may ask for medical verification from someone seeking an accommodation if a disability is not apparent, but the person with disabilities requesting an accommodation must be allowed a reasonable amount of time to provide the medical verification. This landlord’s alleged refusal to negotiate for the rental of the property due to the lack of immediate medical verification that was not requested in advance would violate the Fair Housing Act. After a HUD complaint the Department brought a charge of discrimination against the landlord on October 8, 2024 before an Administrative Law Judge.
The second complaint filed in New Hampshire was against another Manchester landlord for retaliation under the Fair Housing Act. A tenant had sought to file a HUD complaint alleging discrimination from their landlord based upon their race and national origin. While HUD was investigating the complaint the landlord told investigators that he needed to “get rid of” the tenant. While the complaint was still pending before HUD, the landlord completed a background check on the tenant, discovered an unreported criminal conviction from 18 years prior, and moved to evict the tenant for failing to report the conviction on their rental application. The landlord did not customarily run background checks on his other tenants and only did so after this tenant filed the HUD complaint.
While the HUD investigators eventually concluded there was not reasonable cause to support the original complaint, they concluded that there was evidence of retaliation against the tenant. The retaliation provisions of the Fair Housing Act are strong and are intended to protect victims of discrimination pursuing their rights. This situation highlights how even when an underlying complaint may not meet the elements of discrimination, it is still illegal to retaliate against aggrieved parties for trying to assert their rights.
The Department of Justice has also been involved with enforcing the Fair Housing Act here in New Hampshire. When HUD issues a charge based on a housing discrimination complaint, parties are able to remove the complaint to federal court. This results in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division getting involved to enforce fair housing rights. This situation occurred in 2024 when HUD decided to charge a Manchester landlord for attempting to evict a person with disabilities three time due to their medically necessary emotional support animal. This tenant contacted New Hampshire Legal Assistance who assisted them in filing the housing discrimination complaint with HUD that eventually led to a charge from HUD and referral to the DOJ. On December 4, 2024 the Department of Justice reached a settlement with the now former landlords. These landlords agreed to pay the tenant $8,500, implement new accommodation policies if they ever become landlords again, and complete a fair housing training.
NHLA’s Fair Housing project helps tenants facing housing discrimination. If you or someone you know has experienced housing discrimination, contact NHLA’s Fair Housing project at 1-800-921-1115 to see if we can assist you.