Fighting Housing Discrimination

The Fair Housing team recently assisted a tenant, “Carol.” The housing authority which administers Carol’s Section 8 rental assistance sent her a notice saying it planned to terminate her participation in the Section 8 program because of alleged misconduct. Immediately before the housing authority made the decision to terminate Carol’s voucher, an inspection had taken place in Carol’s unit. During the inspection, an employee of the housing authority observed a gay pride flag in the bedroom belonging to Carol’s daughter. The employee made disparaging comments about the flag and suggested that Carol’s daughter should seek conversion therapy at her church.

Carol contacted CLA for help keeping her rental assistance, and there she met CLA Fair Housing Staff Attorneys Rohit Sinha and Michelin Cahill. The employee’s comments gave reason for Attorneys Sinha and Cahill to believe that Carol’s voucher was being terminated due to homophobia within the housing authority, not due to misconduct on Carol’s part.

At the termination hearing, Attorney Sinha demonstrated to the hearing officer that the housing authority had denied access to Carol’s tenant file and thus her attorneys were not able to adequately prepare a substantive defense against the misconduct allegation. The hearing officer found that the housing authority’s failure to provide information to Carol and her attorneys resulted in Carol being denied due process, and the proposed termination was overturned.

The win was significant for Carol and her family, as it protected their ability to stay in their home at an affordable rent. It also demonstrates the impact that the Fair Housing unit can have on protecting the rights of tenants as our attorneys craft robust, creative and effective legal arguments on both substantive and procedural grounds.