October 5, 2016 | Categories: Familial Status, Rental
In May of 2015, the Fair Housing Center of Southeast & Mid Michigan (FHC) initiated a housing discrimination lawsuit against several multi-family apartment properties in mid-Michigan owned, operated, and/or managed by Sudi Hopper. According to the lawsuit, testers posing as a single parent with a young child were told that children were not allowed to live in one-bedroom apartments.
Fair Housing Center Cooperating Attorneys Jia Cobb and Stephen M. Dane of Relman, Dane & Colfax, along with local counsel Thomas Daniels and Matthew Daniels of Pear, Sperling, Eggan & Daniels, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Fair Housing Center. The case, filed in U.S. Federal District Court on May 7, 2015, was assigned to the Honorable Sean F. Cox and settled for $20,000 on October 8, 2015.
The Fair Housing Center also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to look into the allegations of discrimination at the properties. The DOJ took action based on the FHC’s testing and filed a lawsuit on November 19, 2015. The case settled on August 30, 2016. According to a separate press release by the Department of Justice, “under the consent decree, which still must be approved by the court, the defendants would create a settlement fund of $20,000 to compensate victims of their discriminatory practices. The defendants also would pay $5,000 in civil penalties to the U.S. Government.
The decree will require the defendants to eliminate restrictions on children they imposed at the seven complexes they own and operate. The complexes in the case are Parkside Apartments in East Lansing, Holt Manor Apartments and C and H Apartments in Holt, Kelly Manor Apartments in Owosso, Camelot Apartments in Lansing, Pine Cove Apartments in DeWitt, and Park Place Apartments in Williamston. The agreement also requires that defendants inform tenants of their new nondiscriminatory policies and provide training on the Fair Housing Act to their staff and agents.
U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade in Detroit said the law prohibits landlords from refusing to rent to people with children. “We commend the defendants in this case for agreeing to change their policies and pay damages to victims for their past discriminatory practices. This settlement will further the goal of the Fair Housing Act to protect families from discrimination because they have children,” McQuade said.
The Fair Housing Center of Southeast & Mid Michigan, founded in 1992, actively protects the civil rights of those who are discriminated against in the rental, sale, or financing of housing through investigation, education, advocacy, and legal action. The FHC takes an average of 150 complaints each year from its eight-county service area – Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Jackson, Lenawee, Livingston, Monroe, and Washtenaw counties.
The work that provided the basis for this publication was supported by funding under a grant with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The substance and findings of the work are dedicated to the public. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Government.