Martha Taylor, her granddaughter Karrynn Taylor, and Karrynn’s mother Sunshine Welsh filed a race discrimination suit against Congress Park Apartments. Taylor is African-American and Welsh is white. “You people come in here and co-sign and can’t even afford your own household, let alone co-sign for someone else!” said rental agent Flossie Bennett, according to the suit.
These comments were made when Taylor and Welsh arrived at Congress Park Apartments to look at a unit. The suit also claims that Flossie Bennet asked if Sunshine’s boyfriend, an African-American man, would be moving in with her. Bennett, according to the suit, went on to say “You people just have baby after baby and then come in here expecting me to accommodate you.” Ultimately Bennett refused to rent them the two-bedroom unit.
Taylor contacted the Ann Arbor Tenants Union and was referred to FHC-Washtenaw where she made a complaint of race discrimination against the Ypsilanti Township complex. Testing over a two-year period by the FHC supports the discrimination claim. Taylor & Welsh are represented by FHC Cooperating Attorney’s Jonathan Weber and Jonathan Rose of Rose, Weber, and Pappas. The case is filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court and assigned to Judge Melinda Morris.