Aaron Taylor and his fiancée were building a new home and needed a place to live during the process. They thought they had found it at Willows on Twin Ponds in Jackson until the property manager told them their children, a boy and a girl, could not share a bedroom.
The family contacted the Fair Housing Center, and our testing mirrored their experience. At their request, FHC staff reached out to the manager to explain that prohibiting siblings of different genders from sharing a room would be a violation of the Fair Housing Act. The manager asked that Aaron return the next morning, promising to work with him.
But when he arrived, she again refused to rent to the family.
With FHC support, Cooperating Attorney Francyne Stacey filed suit in the U.S. Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on April 29, 2022. The case was assigned to the Honorable Linda V. Parker, and later settled for an undisclosed amount.
Aaron’s persistence helped affirm that families have the right to choose how they live together without fear of discrimination.