The Department of Housing and Urban Development has reached a settlement in three states with housing industry participants over sexual harassment charges. HUD announced a recent initiative to combat sexual harassment in housing.
The settlements were reached with housing authorities in Florida, Virginia, and California. The three settlements total about $125,000 going to victims.
“Landlords are required to comply with the Fair Housing Act, the federal law that has banned housing discrimination for the last 50 years,” says Anna Maria Farias, HUD assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity. “It’s against the law to harass residents of housing because of sex, disability or any another protected characteristic. The settlements we are announcing today reflect HUD’s commitment to rooting out sexual harassment and all housing discrimination as we know it.”
In the Florida settlement, a female resident alleged she was sexually harassed on several occasions by a housing authority employee, including unwelcome sexual comments, requests for sex or sexual favors, and threats of eviction if she did not submit to such requests. HUD reached a voluntary compliance agreement and conciliation agreement with a Jacksonville housing authority over the charges. The housing authority has agreed to pay the resident $75,000 and to adopt a new sexual harassment policy. Staff will also be required to attend fair housing training.
HUD reached a conciliation agreement with an independent living facility in Virginia to resolve allegations that the facility did not follow reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of a female tenant by another tenant. The facility agreed to pay the accuser $37,500 as well as adopt a sexual harassment policy.
In California, HUD reached a conciliation agreement over charges that a landlord was making repeated unwanted sexual advances toward a male tenant with a mental disability. The landlord evicted the male resident, allegedly for refusing those advances. The landlord agreed to pay the tenant $12,000 and attend fair housing training.
Source: The Department of Housing and Urban Development
