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In recent months, Michigan has seen significant updates to its fair housing laws, including amendments to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) and progress on source of income antidiscrimination bills.
ELCRA Amendments: Expanded Protections Now in Effect
This year, amendments to the ELCRA have broadened the scope of Michigan’s protected classes to include gender identity/expression and sexual orientation. While these categories have been covered under sex discrimination by the Federal Fair Housing Act since 2021, the additional protection at the state level enhances access to justice for victims of housing discrimination. The new amendments expand the choices for complainants who can now pursue legal recourse at the state level.
Source of Income Antidiscrimination Bills (Senate Bills 205 & 206, House Bill 4062): Legislative Advancements
Antidiscrimination bills currently advancing through the Michigan legislature aim to prohibit housing discrimination based on the source of income. If signed into law, income derived from legal sources such as housing vouchers, rental assistance, or social security could not be used as grounds for denying housing. Source of income protections have already been afforded to residents of some local municipalities, including the cities of Ann Arbor, Lansing, and Jackson. The Fair Housing Center has leveraged these local laws to investigate and aid in the litigation of source of income complaints. In May 2023, FHC staff testified at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in support of SB 205 & 206.
At the Fair Housing Center, we are committed to providing education on fair housing law. Stay tuned to our e-newsletter and social media for more updates on your fair housing rights.
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A woman with a mobility impairment filed a case against a property management company for refusing to grant her a reasonable accommodation. The woman initially contacted the FHC after repeatedly requesting an accessible parking space without success. Each suggestion made by the property manager required her to navigate gravel and dirt, which was particularly challenging with her walker.
Despite months of advocacy by FHC staff, the property manager still refused to grant the reasonable accommodation, citing that doing so would be “unfair” to the other occupants. Facing this continued denial, the client opted for litigation. She is being represented by FHC Cooperating Attorney Francyne Stacey, who filed the case in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in June 2024. The case has been assigned to the Honorable Judith E. Levy.
A woman was facing eviction for a lease violation that stemmed from her disability. She fixed the problem immediately, before the landlord’s deadline. Despite that, the owner and her son pressed on with the eviction. FHC staff spent weeks and went to great lengths attempting to resolve the issue. When negotiations failed, the client opted for litigation. FHC Cooperating Attorney Daniel Gwinn filed the case in Federal Court on December 19, 2023. The case is currently in front of the Honorable Matthew F. Leitman in the Eastern District of Michigan.
The FHC is recruiting individuals to pose as home seekers (like secret shoppers in the retail industry) to help uncover illegal housing discrimination practices in southeast & mid-Michigan. We immediately need black male testers but welcome people of any sex, gender, age (18+), and race to apply. Testers can choose to volunteer or be part-time, as-needed employees ($31/hour plus mileage reimbursement). Testing hours vary and typically take place during regular business hours.
Visit our website for more information or to apply: fhcmichigan.org/tester
Stay informed about fair housing laws with our newly updated fact sheets! Whether you need a refresher or want to review recent advancements, we’ve created various resources to help you navigate fair housing issues. Visit the Related Resources page on our website to explore topics like Assistance Animals, Criminal Background, Writing Reasonable Accommodation Support Letters, and more.
The FHC resolves many reasonable accommodation and modification requests each year. If you would like a full report of resolved disability cases, please email info@fhcmichigan.org
A woman contacted our office on behalf of herself and her two adult children. Because of their disabilities, the doctor recommended that the daughters no longer share a bedroom. The family had resided at the apartment complex for nearly 20 years. For over a year, they had attempted to transfer to a specific larger unit closer to the onsite security office. The PPO the mother had against her former abuser had expired, and she was nervous about remaining in her current unit because he knew the family’s address. The landlord told the woman that she could not “pick and choose” the unit that she wanted to transfer to, and it could easily take over five years to transfer units. The landlord further threatened that if she rejected the first unit they offered her, she would go to the bottom of the transfer list, forcing her to wait another five years or longer for a new unit.
FHC staff wrote a reasonable accommodation request to the corporate management office but did not receive a response for four months. In the interim, FHC staff filed two HUD complaints against the landlord, the second alleging retaliation. After several letters and emails with the corporate office and their attorney, the family was finally granted the reasonable accommodation and moved into the designated unit they had been waiting for.
A man with a mental disability who lived in subsidized housing was discriminated against by his landlord. His legal guardian contacted the FHC for a second time [as we previously assisted the young man in 2021]. The landlord continued to overcharge the man for rent spuriously, did not follow HUD rules governing recertification paperwork, and threatened to evict him on more than one occasion if he didn’t pay what they claimed he owed. For example, the landlord attempted to have the man sign and backdate the recertification paperwork, which was two years old, completely contradictory to HUD policy. Moreover, the landlord was well informed that all legal paperwork related to the man’s housing, including recertification and lease documents, needed to be reviewed and signed by his guardian because he has significant intellectual disabilities. The landlord continued to violate the court order by not informing the guardian of important recertification paperwork and deadlines. This resulted in the man losing his subsidy and alleging that he owed over $6,000 in back rent.
FHC staff wrote letters to the corporate regional manager and had Zoom meetings with the same individual. After corporate refused to follow the HUD guidelines or adhere to the court-ordered guardianship, FHC staff contacted HUD’s Asset Resolution Department and asked for the tenant’s entire file to be audited. After two months of investigation, HUD’s report concluded that the landlord was at fault for not only completely mismanaging the tenant’s file and overcharging him rent, but they also owed money back to HUD for failing to submit recertification paperwork in a timely manner. The man’s subsidy was reinstated, and he owed only $300 in back rent instead of the $6,000 the landlord initially claimed.
A senior with a disability living in subsidized housing contacted the FHC after experiencing harassment and intimidation by his landlord. The maintenance staff had entered the tenant’s unit several times without notice, moved his belongings around, and caused the man repeated stress. Additionally, the landlord refused to permit the tenant’s son to serve as his home health aide, even though the son provided paperwork from the Department of Human Services certifying that the state approved him. Lastly, the landlord claimed that the tenant failed to provide recertification paperwork, citing him with a third lease violation and filing an eviction action.
FHC staff wrote a reasonable accommodation letter requesting that (1) management give the tenant written notice before entering his home, (2) allow his son to live with him as his home healthcare aide without harassment, and (3) drop the eviction action after FHC staff demonstrated to the landlord that the tenant had submitted the requisite paperwork several times. The landlord responded favorably to the FHC’s letter and granted all requests.
A mother of three contacted the FHC after receiving a retaliatory eviction notice due to the fence the family had previously built around their mobile home to keep their two autistic children safe. The former management company followed fair housing law by allowing the family to build the fence, but the new management company refused to allow them to keep it. When the family fought back, stating that the fence was their right by law as a reasonable modification of the children’s disabilities, the management company issued an eviction notice with trivial citations, such as having weeds that were too long in early spring after the winter thaw, and the gutter being loose from a wind storm. The family had fixed both minor citations, yet the landlord continued to pursue the eviction.
The FHC wrote a letter to the opposing attorney alleging the frivolous eviction notice and discussing the mobile home park’s underlying retaliatory motive in forcing the family to remove the fence. The opposing attorney discussed the case with his client, and they agreed to drop the eviction. The fence was allowed to remain in place.
A man with physical disabilities who uses a Section 8 voucher contacted the FHC for assistance with a reasonable accommodation request. The tenant had requested to move to a first-floor unit for over a year and provided documentation from his medical provider stating he needed an immediate transfer. Still, the landlord continued to ignore his request. The tenant had fallen several times using the stairs to access his unit. Instead of accommodating the man, the landlord threatened to evict him.
After contacting the FHC, staff wrote a letter to the landlord’s attorney demanding that the reasonable accommodation request be granted to transfer to a first-floor unit. FHC staff was also successful in having the eviction case dismissed.
A disabled veteran of the United States Army contacted the FHC for assistance with a request for reasonable modification. The veteran has mobility impairment due to an injury while serving in the Army. He chose to rent his mobile home because it had an accessible ramp for his motorized scooter. After a year of living in the home, he informed management that the ramp was starting to deteriorate and needed repairs. Management first claimed they would make repairs, but the following summer, the landlord tore down the ramp without warning and installed a dangerous set of rickety stairs with no railing. The veteran advocated for himself to compel the landlord to install a new ramp but to no avail. The landlord retaliated further by informing the tenant that the mobile home would be condemned and served him a 30-day eviction notice. The FHC contacted the township, and officials there stated that the landlord did not have the authority to condemn the property, nor was the property in a condition that required condemnation; the landlord simply refused to make the necessary repairs.
FHC staff wrote several letters to the opposing attorney and negotiated a settlement allowing the veteran to remain in this home and avoid eviction. The mobile home park was also mandated by law to replace the ramp as a reasonable modification of the tenant’s disability.
A man contacted the Fair Housing Center after a leasing agent rejected his emotional support animal (ESA) because it did not have an “ESA licensing number.” This caused a stall in his tenancy, preventing him from moving in. After FHC staff sent a letter to the property manager clarifying that support animals do not require licensing numbers, the landlord allowed the man to proceed in the application process, and he moved into the unit the following week.
A woman contacted the Fair Housing Center after a landlord informed her that their pet policy would consider the weight of her emotional support animal, requiring her to adopt an animal that weighed 35 pounds or less. Following a letter of advocacy explaining that emotional support animals are not pets, the landlord agreed to amend their policy, excluding her ESA from the weight limit for pets in the complex.
Thank you to our members for your dedication to the FHC and our mission to end housing discrimination. Your ongoing support ensures that we can continue to fight for equal housing opportunities and create a community where everyone has a place to call home.
We want to give a very special thank you to Reinhart Realtors, the Mark David Mitshkun Memorial Fund, and all those who participated in this year’s Membership Drive and Fair Housing Month Mixer at the Ypsilanti Cocktail Club. Your participation and generosity made these events resounding successes. Together, we raised an impressive $20,000 to help fund our work.
The success stories featured in this newsletter would not have been possible without your contributions. Your support is the backbone of our efforts, enabling us to provide services such as investigating discrimination claims and enforcing fair housing laws by holding those who discriminate responsible for their actions. THANK YOU!
Each year, the FHC hosts a benefit breakfast with a featured guest speaker to raise the necessary funds for our efforts to end housing discrimination and expand equal housing opportunities, making our communities more open, accessible, and inclusive for all.
The 11th Annual Fair Housing Breakfast was held on October 10th at Weber’s Inn of Ann Arbor, with Cashauna Hill as our guest speaker. Thank you to those who were able to join us in person and virtually, to those who made financial contributions, and to our event sponsors. Because of you, the Breakfast raised over $46,000 to aid in our fight for fair housing!
Visit fhcmichigan.org/fhbreakfast to watch the event video.
Silver Sponsors:
Fifth Third Bank, Old National Bank, Washtenaw County Office of Community & Economic Development
Bronze Sponsors:
Bank of Ann Arbor, Delta Dental, Greater Metropolitan Board of REALTORS: Ann Arbor Chapter, Key Bank, Lake Michigan Credit Union, Michigan Realtors, University Bank, Zillow, Zingerman’s Community of Businesses
Individual Sponsors:
FHL Bank Indianapolis, First Merchants, MSHDA