BayLegal Reaches Settlement To Protect Housing Rights

Bay Area Legal Aid finalized a housing discrimination case in which a client was denied a reasonable accommodation for more time to pay her rent. Without the accommodation, she was regularly at risk of fees for late payment of rent due to her disabilities and at risk of eviction due to late rent payments. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that Park Regency, LLC, and Domino Reality Management Company will pay $27,000 to resolve the allegations. The settlement also grants the client’s accommodation request, implements fair housing training for the management company, and requires that the company make reasonable accommodation policy available on their website.

This settlement is important to upholding people’s rights under the Fair Housing Act, which makes it unlawful to impose different rental terms and conditions based on disability, race, national origin, color, religion, sex, or familial status. It also makes it unlawful for housing providers to refuse reasonable accommodation requests if these accommodations may be necessary for a person with disabilities to have equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling and public and common use areas.