February 25, 2020

Agreement Reached in Discrimination Complaints Against Chicopee Housing Authority

DATELINE: Chicopee, MA

Community Legal Aid (CLA) has resolved three discrimination complaints it brought against Chicopee Housing Authority (CHA) and its Executive Director, Monica Blazic.  The complaints alleged that CHA discriminated against residents and applicants with disabilities by ignoring requests for accommodations, failing to honor accommodations it had granted, and placing unreasonable burdens on residents with service animals.

In one instance, CHA told a blind resident who needed a service animal that it would only allow him to have a guide dog that weighed 30 pounds or less.  This is around half the average weight of any breed commonly trained as guide dogs. CHA also repeatedly sent the resident, Christopher Lamoureux, important notices in regular-sized print in violation of its previous agreement to send him notices in a larger font.  In a second matter, CHA refused to replace a laundry card that was lost when a resident was hospitalized.  Without this laundry card, he was not able to use the on-site laundry facilities. In the third case, an applicant family with disabilities was denied an emergency waiting list placement for failing to comply with requirements that were not imposed on applicants without disabilities.

Under the terms of the agreement reached by the complainants, CHA, Monica Blazic, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (which will monitor compliance), CHA will provide monetary relief to the individuals affected and restructure the way it handles requests for accommodations by tenants with disabilities.  CHA will also provide anti-discrimination training to its entire staff, including its Executive Director.  CLA attorney Daniel Bahls, who represented the complainants, noted, “these acts of discrimination against residents with disabilities living in Chicopee Housing Authority apartments were clear violations of the law.  We hope the training required by this settlement will stop the disturbing pattern of discriminatory actions that CHA’s tenants have had to endure.”

The Fair Housing Act was initially passed in 1968 following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Act, in its current form, prohibits housing discrimination on the grounds of disability, race, color, religion, sex and national origin.  Massachusetts also has a fair housing act, which adds additional protection against discrimination on the grounds of familial status, source of income, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, and veteran or active military status.

These cases are three of four complaints Community Legal Aid filed against Chicopee Housing Authority and Monica Blazic.  The fourth complaint, which is not yet resolved, alleges discrimination on the grounds of disability, race, and national origin.

About Community Legal Aid:
Community Legal Aid provides free civil legal services to the low-income and elderly residents of the five counties of Central and Western Massachusetts (Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester). The organization maintains full-time offices in Worcester, Fitchburg, Springfield, Northampton, and Pittsfield. Community Legal Aid works to assure fairness for all in the justice system, protecting homes, livelihoods, health and families For more information on CLA please visit www.communitylegal.org

Contact: Dan Bahls, Staff Attorney
Community Legal Aid
Phone: (413) 686 – 9023
Email: dbahls@cla-ma.org