Recently I had the opportunity to speak at the Fair Housing Matters conference in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted by the Tennessee Fair Housing Council, a private, non-profit organization with the mission to eliminate housing discrimination (http://www.tennfairhousing.org).  Bryan Greene, Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, was a keynote speaker.  His presentation paid homage to those women who exhibited their courage in standing up to landlords whose housing discrimination and harassment rose (or more aptly, sank) to the level of being despicable.  It is stunning that in today’s day and age that the following scenarios (all resulting in fair housing cases) would even occur:

• In West Virginia, three employees of a management company threatened a resident with eviction if she would not participate in sexual activity.  Keys were used at night to access her apartment and to demand sex, all while children were asleep in the next room.  Additionally, a maintenance worker would expose himself while doing maintenance work in the apartment.  One employee’s wife was the manager of the property and she was also charged as she did not address the complaints that were brought by the resident.

• A resident in Tennessee was offered a rental special, although it certainly was not one that should have ever been presented to her.  The “deal” was one month free rent…in exchange for nude photos of the resident.  And failing to take advantage of this offer would result in a 30 day eviction.

• Berlin, New Hampshire had an ordinance stating that residents would be evicted if the police were called to an apartment three times.  There was no exemption if the calls were made by a victim of domestic violence.  Essentially residents were faced with a difficult choice…either call the police and risk eviction, or suffer domestic violence in silence.

These issues would not have come to light without the willingness of the victims to come forward.  Keep in mind that often victims of such harassment in housing do not have the financial wherewithal to simply up and move.   The costs associated with a move and the ramifications if the resident is getting rental assistance can be daunting; that is likely the reason that the woman in West Virginia complied with the demands made of her.

None of this should ever have happened; but it did.  This should never happen at your community, but it might.  While these stories are based on extreme examples of harassment, everyone should remember that any behavior that would make a resident feel threatened or uncomfortable can result in charges of fair housing law violations.  Your policies and procedures should address these issues, but as importantly, the culture of your organization should be such that everyone (employees and residents alike) knows that harassment will not be tolerated.  And that should not even need to be said.