HUD Racial Discrimination - shake down

[Joe Edgar]

This is more a venting session in the event anyone else has to deal with this.  

My property manager (who is of race 1) was accused of racial profiling against a tenant of race 2.  The claim was that the discrimination was against both race 2 and race 3.  The tenant complainant had lived in our apartments for two years and was trying to break his lease early.  I am the owner and of race 3.

When I first got the notice from HUD I was shocked! I have learned a lot about this process. The case was then handed down to a local city Fair Housing Office. The open and "Investigation," which starts off with --> If you want this problem to just go away, how much will you pay the complainant?

They have a price in mind as the complainant gets to request an amount. I was again disgusted with the idea that this process seemed like a shake down. I declined to offer anything and knowing my innocence as the property owner (who is who the claim goes against and not the property manager) I requested an investigation. Six months later and many discussions, emails, meeting, copying, "investigating" I found out that the majority of such complaints end in "reconciliation." Reconciliation involves the owner paying the complainant. Our application process and procedures are clearly written out and all of our renting evidence is clearly showing no racial discrimination what so ever. After another couple of months the local office calls and wants to discuss the recommended finds to HUD. "Based on census data you should have __% percentages of each race in your apartments and you don't so it looks like racial discrimination." How they know what the tenants races are, they admit they are only guessing.

They say this is their finding and they will pass this on to HUD if I don't reconcile for $450. I tell them this isn't fair and there is no way I or the property manager was racially discriminating against a tenant. Their response, "This is our finding, but you can reconcile and we just close the file." Of course I paid the $450.

[Greg H.]

WOW ! My assumption is that nothing probably would have come of it if you refused but......... If it was sent to the HUD investigative dept it at the least would cause you months if not years of uneasiness and worst thousands of dollars in legal fees defending yourself

I would have held my nose and wrote the check as well.  You did the right thing

In many sectors of our country these are the types of organizations to fear.  They cause trouble where trouble doesn't exist to promote their cause with little or no oversight or accountability