Topic: Housing

Topic: Housing

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On Friday, April 15, 2016, the City of Raleigh Fair Housing Hearing Board and the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina will sponsor the 13th Annual Fair Housing Conference. The keynote speaker at the conference will be civil rights attorney John Relman, one of the nation’s foremost fair housing and civil rights attorneys and the managing partner of the Washington, D.C., law firm of Relman, Dane & Colfax.

Panels will address issues of fair housing and gentrification as well as housing discrimination against immigrant and Limited English Proficiency tenants.

The conference will take place at the McKimmon Center for Extension and Continuing Education, located at 1101 Gorman St, Raleigh, NC 27606.

Early registration will begin on February 29, 2016.​

This conference is funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program.​

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About the Fair Housing Project
Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Fair Housing Project works to eliminate housing discrimination and to ensure equal housing opportunity for all people in North Carolina through education, outreach, public policy initiatives, advocacy and enforcement. Learn more at fairhousingnc.org.

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Topic: Housing

← Back to Raleigh Housing Authority settles lawsuit alleging housing discrimination against victims of domestic violence
MEDIA COVERAGE
A Domestic Violence Survivor Asked the RHA for an Emergency Transfer. It Evicted Her Instead, a Lawsuit Says.

Leigh Tauss, Indy Week – Oct. 29, 2019

Housing settlement includes first decree of its kind, attorneys say

Bill Cresenzo, North Carolina Lawyers Weekly – October 23, 2019

RALEIGH · October 16, 2019—Legal Aid of North Carolina and the Duke Civil Justice Clinic announced today that they recently settled a federal discrimination complaint filed against the Raleigh Housing Authority (RHA) on behalf of a public housing tenant who was a victim of domestic violence.

The settlement includes a Federal Consent Decree—believed to be the first in the country to address a landlord’s obligations under the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which requires housing authorities to provide tenants who are victims of domestic violence with specific housing protections.

In the lawsuit, filed in the United States Court of the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2018, the tenant alleged that the Raleigh Housing Authority violated the federal Fair Housing Act by denying her repeated requests for an emergency transfer to a safe location. The tenant was the victim of multiple crimes at her housing unit: violence perpetrated by an ex-boyfriend who strangled her; a home intruder who threatened her guest at gunpoint; and armed men who shot bullets into her apartment. In addition, she alleged that the Raleigh Housing Authority was in violation of VAWA. RHA has denied the allegations. 

The Federal Consent Decree requires RHA to: 

  • Provide tenants who are facing eviction with written notice of their rights under VAWA; (One of VAWA’s goals is to ensure that victims of domestic violence do not face eviction as a result of the abuse.)
  • Provide tenants who are denied admission to RHA with written notice of their rights under VAWA; (Another goal of VAWA is to ensure that victims of domestic violence—who often have a poor credit history, prior evictions, and criminal charges related to the abuse—are not denied housing as a result.)
  • Make emergency transfer request forms and the RHA’s emergency transfer plan available and accessible to all tenants;
  • Assign a current RHA employee as a point person to answer questions about VAWA’s housing protections;
  • Provide regular, mandatory training on the Fair Housing Act for all property managers and employees involved in lease intake, transfer decisions and lease termination decisions;
  • Provide regular, mandatory training on VAWA and domestic violence for all property managers and employees involved in lease intake, transfer decisions and lease termination decisions;
  • Send a letter to public housing tenants each year soliciting feedback on all aspects of the housing authority, including its employees;
  • Provide documentation to Legal Aid of North Carolina for three consecutive years demonstrating RHA’s compliance with the Consent Decree.

“The Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina is committed to ensuring that women and children in public housing do not become homeless because they have been denied the protections of the Fair Housing Act or the Violence Against Women Act,” said Suzanne Chester, a managing attorney at Legal Aid of North Carolina, and co-counsel on the case. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. 

“We are very pleased with the results for our client and her children, and we hope that this Consent Decree will serve to highlight to public housing authorities across the country their obligations to comply with VAWA and Fair Housing laws,” commented co-counsel, Charles Holton, Director of Duke University’s Civil Justice Clinic. 

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Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Our Fair Housing Project works to eliminate housing discrimination and to ensure equal housing opportunity for all people through education, outreach, public policy initiatives, advocacy and enforcement. Since its founding in 2011, the Project has helped obtain over $6.6 million in relief for victims of discrimination. The Project is supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program. Learn more at FairHousingNC.org.

North Carolinians seeking information about their rights under the federal Fair Housing Act or who believe they are a victim of housing discrimination can call the Project’s statewide toll-free helpline at 1-855-797-FAIR (3247).

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.

Media Contact

Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, Legal Aid of North Carolina, 919-856-2132, seand@legalaidnc.org

Topic: Housing

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Money will help make homes more accessible for low-income people with disabilities in four states​

RALEIGH, September 26, 2016 – Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) announced today that it has settled housing discrimination complaints against the architects, builders and owners of the SkyHouse apartment buildings in Raleigh, Charlotte, and eight cities in other states. The complaints, which were filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alleged that the balconies in the buildings were in violation of the Fair Housing Act because the sliding door thresholds were too high, making them inaccessible for people with disabilities. The respondents in the cases denied that the buildings were inaccessible or in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

As a result of the conciliation agreement​ signed by the parties and approved by HUD on Sept. 13, the respondents will provide $1.8 million to help fund accessibility modifications for low-income individuals in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Texas, where SkyHouse properties with similar features are located. The fund will be managed by the R.L. Mace Universal Design Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the concept and practice of accessible and universal design.

In addition, to make units more accessible, the owners of the buildings will offer ramps and decking for the balconies, and make other accessibility modifications upon request from residents with disabilities. The respondents will further pay $50,000 for Legal Aid’s damages and attorneys’ fees.

George Hausen, executive director of Legal Aid of North Carolina, praised the respondents for working to achieve a positive resolution of the cases, stating, “We appreciate the effort that the respondents made to address the issues raised in our complaints. The modification fund will help hundreds of low-income people with disabilities remain in their homes by making them more accessible.”

Jeffrey Dillman, co-director of the Fair Housing Project​, noted that the accessibility provisions of the Fair Housing Act are of great importance to people with disabilities, stating, “Accessible housing is an essential means of ensuring that people with disabilities are able to fully participate in the community. Designers and builders must ensure that housing meets these modest federal accessibility requirements, in addition to state and local codes.”

The cases, Legal Aid of North Carolina v. SkyHouse Raleigh, LLC, et al., and Legal Aid of North Carolina v. SkyHouse Charlotte, LLC, et al., were filed with HUD in December 2015. The cases arose from accessibility testing performed by Legal Aid’s Fair Housing Project, which uncovered the alleged violations.

The Fair Housing Act requires all multi-family housing built since 1991 to include certain accessibility features in common areas and individual units to allow people with disabilities to use and enjoy the property.

There are 17 SkyHouse buildings currently completed or under construction. Eleven of them have the high door thresholds that are subject to the agreement. The respondents are SkyHouse Raleigh, LLC; SkyHouse Charlotte, LLC; SkyHouse Charlotte II, LLC; Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, Inc., in Atlanta; Batson-Cook Company in West Point, Ga.; Novare Group Holdings, LLC, in Atlanta; Beacon Partners, Inc., in Charlotte; and NGI Investments, LLC, in Atlanta.

Legal Aid was represented in this case by Michael Allen, an attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based civil rights firm Relman, Dane and Colfax, PLLC. Legal Aid of North Carolina’s involvement in this litigation was made possible in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program.

Individuals may obtain information about the accessibility fund by contacting the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina at (855) 797-3247.

# # #

Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services in civil matters to low-income people in order to ensure equal access to justice and remove legal barriers to economic opportunity. Legal Aid’s Fair Housing Project works to eliminate housing discrimination and to ensure equal housing opportunity for all people through education, outreach, public policy initiatives, advocacy and enforcement.

Media Contacts
George Hausen, Executive Director, Legal Aid of N.C., 919-856-2130, GeorgeH@legalaidnc.org
Jeffrey Dillman, Co-Director, Fair Housing Project, 919-861-1884, JeffD@legalaidnc.org
Sean Driscoll, Director of Public Relations, Legal Aid of N.C., 919-856-2132, SeanD@legalaidnc.org

Topic: Housing

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​Legal Aid clients threatened with eviction after appearing in exposé about skyrocketing rents in mobile home parks owned by Time Out Communities

IN THE NEWS
Media coverage of the eviction crisis caused by Time Out Communities

Precarious spot for mobile home owners as investors swoop in
Associated Press – September 15, 2019

The Unexpected Cost of Hurricane Florence for Some in N.C.
The Weather Channel – July 31, 2019

Residents slapped with eviction notices after AP story
Associated Press – July 11, 2019

Mobile home residents hit with soaring rent after hurricanes
Associated Press – July 9, 2019

After Matthew And Florence, A Mobile Park Ownership Company Is Hiking Rents And Issuing Evictions
WUNC – May 6, 2019

Residents Upset After Lot Fees Double
Spectrum News – April 16, 2019

Trailer park residents plead for help
The Robesonian – April 15, 2019

Law firm offering help to improperly evicted tenants
The Robesonian – March 27, 2019

Mobile home park buyouts, chicken farms concern commissioners
The Robesonian – November 5, 2018

Update, Sept. 16, 2019: The Associated Press quoted Legal Aid NC attorney Nicole Mueller in a September 15 article about investors buying up mobile home parks around the country. Read the article.

Update, Aug. 1, 2019: One of our clients featured in the Associated Press articles discussed below appeared on The Weather Channel’s Weather Underground program July 31 to describe her struggle with Time Out Communities. Watch the segment.

LUMBERTON • July 18, 2019—Minutes before the Robeson County Courthouse closed on July 9, a representative from Time Out Communities, a Florida company that owns more than 20 mobile home parks in Robeson County, filed eviction proceedings against two of its tenants.

While evictions of tenants living in Time Out parks are nothing new—in fact, they are increasingly common—the timing of these two evictions is notable.

Only hours earlier, the Associated Press had published an article about skyrocketing rents in Time Out parks—an article in which both tenants were prominently featured.

“I interpret it as just way too coincidental that they would be doing that,” Nicole Mueller, our attorney who represents the two tenants, told the Associated Press for its follow-up article on July 11. “To me it seems retaliatory that they were giving these clients more time to pay or to figure out other situations … until they saw this news story.”

Our two clients, James Lesane and Shirley Pittman, are longtime residents of parks owned by Time Out Communities. Both are elderly and survive entirely on disability benefits. Neither can afford the $465 a month that Time Out is now charging for lot rent, which covers only the plots of land on which their mobile homes sit.

For Lesane, the new lot rent is more than triple the $150 a month he used to pay. The increase is only slightly less steep for Pittman, who previously paid $210 a month. After the new rents took effect, both continued to pay their old rents—all they could afford—while looking for new places to live.

The arrangement seemed to be working—Time Out allowed both tenants to remain in their homes—until the Associated Press article came out.

The company claims that the eyebrow-raising timing of the eviction filings was indeed a coincidence. Time Out told the Associated Press that it had “begun working on the paperwork for both eviction notices prior to the article’s publication” and that “many other eviction notices were filed on the same day.”

Whatever the company’s motivations, the end result for Lesane and Pittman is the same grim reality: the real possibility of impending homelessness. For now, the tenants are in an anxious holding pattern while they await their July 24 eviction hearings in small claims court.

Thankfully, they will not be alone. By their side that day will be Nicole Mueller, their Legal Aid lawyer. Mueller is an attorney with our Disaster Relief Project. She and two of her fellow disaster-relief lawyers, Katashia Cooper and Emma Smiley, joined by colleagues in our Pembroke office, have handled about 100 Time Out cases since last spring. The NC Justice Center is also representing Time Out tenants.

There are plenty of cases to go around. Mass evictions of Time Out tenants have become routine, as the company has bought up nearly two dozen parks in the county over the last few years, subjecting an increasing number of tenants to its remorseless business model.

According to its website, Time Out now owns 21 mobile home parks in Robeson County, 19 of which are in Lumberton and one each of which are in Fairmont and Shannon. Relying on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Associated Press reports that Time Out’s properties contain 1,200 mobile home lots.

Attracted by the lowered property values caused by Hurricane Matthew, the company swooped into the area in 2017 and began buying up properties by the bushel, only to jack up the lot rents to an unaffordable level for the existing tenants, resulting in an eviction crisis.

Possibly due to the breakneck pace at which Time Out is filing them, not all of the company’s evictions are legal.

“That’s where we come in,” wrote Candace Harke, managing attorney of our Pembroke office, in an op-ed in The Robesonian from March.

“Companies have the right to profit, but they absolutely do not have the right to break the law,” she wrote.

From Harke’s op-ed:

In several cases, a court has ruled that tenants did not receive proper notice of lease termination — a step that landlords must take before initiating eviction proceedings — and did not receive that notice within the timeframe required by state law.

Tenants are also facing habitability issues — paying inflated rents for homes that are run-down and in need of repair, dangerously so in some cases — and are being offered complex rent-to-own contracts with unclear terms that many residents do not understand.

Tenants who are facing eviction or have other housing problems can apply for our help by calling our statewide toll-free Helpline at 1-866-219-LANC (5262) or by submitting an online application.

Topic: Housing

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Former Legal Aid client Mr. Kaire tells the story of how a leak in his apartment made his family sick, and how legal help made a difference in their lives.