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Justice Quarterly
News from Vermont Legal Aid
Housing Issue-Spring 2009 |
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The Governor, Legislature and HUD all designate April as Fair Housing Month to spread the word about people's rights when buying, renting or financing a home.The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination on race,color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability. This issue includes summaries of a few of the many housing cases that Vermont Legal Aid has worked on over the past year.
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In Vermont:
- Twenty five percent of low-income families live in substandard housing.
- The cost of the median priced home increased by 101% between 1996 and 2007.
- Over 9,000 households pay more than 50% of their income towards housing.
- A one day census of homelessness in 2008 found 2249 people who had no place to stay including 503 children.
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| Housing Discrimination in Vermont |
Q & A with Rachel Batterson of the
Housing Discrimination Law Project
JQ: What is housing discrimination?
RB: When we use the word 'discrimination,' we mean that we feel that we, or someone else, has been treated unfairly compared to others. Housing discrimination is when a landlord, realtor, bank, or other housing provider treats someone unfairly because that person is in certain legally-protected classes.
The protected classes are: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, intent to reside with minor children, disability, age, or receiving public assistance including Section 8.
Some examples of housing discrimination are: refusing to rent or sell to someone in a protected class; having different rules (a higher rent or security deposit or different mortgage terms); "steering" someone to a particular neighborhood; refusing to make a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability; or evicting someone because they are in a protected class (for example, evicting after a family has a child or when a person becomes disabled).
JQ: Why is fair housing important for Vermonters?
RB: Fair housing makes our communities stronger and better by integrating them and by treating everyone equally and fairly. Fair housing is about one of the most personal and important aspects of our lives: our homes. Whether we rent or own our home, we all want to feel welcome there. Our home shouldn't be a place where we are harassed, intimidated, or treated unfairly just because of who we are as a person.
JQ: Can you describe the Housing Discrimination Law Project (HDLP)?
RB: The Housing Discrimination Law Project is a project of Vermont Legal Aid. The HDLP represents victims of housing discrimination throughout Vermont in state and federal courts and at the Vermont Human Rights Commission, the State administrative agency charged with enforcing State and federal housing discrimination laws.
We also have a housing discrimination testing program. Our testing program tests existing housing to assess how a landlord treats people in different protected classes as compared to how that landlord treats people who are not in a protected class. We do testing both in individual cases where a person has complained of discrimination by a particular landlord as well as on a random basis to determine whether landlords are complying with fair housing laws.
JQ: Can you give us some examples of the type of cases you are working on?
RB: The HDLP is representing victims of housing discrimination statewide in almost every region from Brattleboro to Burlington to Springfield to Middlebury. We currently represent at least one individual or family in every federally-protected class. For example, we represent a single mother of two young children in a case where her landlord refused for more than eight months to reasonably accommodate her by allowing her to have a live-in aid to assist her and her children. We represent an African American man whose tenancy was terminated for "criminal activity" where the incident at issue was clearly a misunderstanding. We represent a woman whose landlord refused to allow her to take in foster children although the State of Vermont had certified her and her husband, as well as their apartment, for foster care. And we represent an African family who was denied a language interpreter by a federally-funded housing provider.
JQ: What should people do if they suspect housing discrimination?
RB:Call us. You can reach us statewide at (800) 889-2047. The more information you can give us about the people involved, especially the person you suspect discriminated as well as the property where the discrimination occurred, the more we will be able to do to help. If you or someone you know has personally been discriminated against in housing or suspects that a particular housing provider or landlord is discriminating, please call us as soon as possible after the discrimination occurs.
It can be difficult to tell that one has been discriminated against. People who discriminate often do so in subtle ways that may be difficult to interpret. Many times, a person just feels that something was "off" about their interaction with a landlord or that the landlord gave them "that look." We can help by listening to what happened, testing, and helping to figure out whether what happened was housing discrimination.
Call us at (800) 889-2047. You will talk to an experienced lawyer who will assess what happened, ask you questions, and help you figure out whether what happened was housing discrimination. If, after talking to one of our lawyers, it appears that a landlord or other housing provider discriminated against you, our lawyer will explain what actions you may take. It is always your decision whether to take any action at all. If you yourself were not discriminated against but you suspect housing discrimination, our lawyer will take the information you have and pass it on to the head of our testing program as a housing provider to test.
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| Housing Success Stories |
 VLA Assists Senior Facing Foreclosure
VLA was contacted by an elderly client who owned her home and had been making mortgage payments for many years, when she suddenly faced a medical crisis. This unexpected illness caused the client to fall behind on her mortgage payments and the bank soon filed for foreclosure. Although the client was able to borrow money and pay off most of what she owed, the bank refused to negotiate a payment plan. Not wanting to lose her home, VLA assisted this client in seeking a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage is a loan available to seniors, based on the equity in a home. The loan involves a lump sum or multiple payments made to the homeowner. The homeowner's obligation to repay the loan is deferred until the home is sold, the owner leaves or the owner dies. In this client's case, the property also involved a shared well. The regulations governing the reverse mortgage program require a written shared well agreement. VLA drafted a shared well agreement and worked with this client and her neighbors to reach an arrangement that was agreeable to all.
VLA Fights Mobile Home Park Rent Increase
Vermont law allows mobile home parks to raise lot rent only once a year. If the proposed rent increase exceeds 1% above the Consumer Price Index ("CPI") for housing, the law allows the park residents to challenge the proposed rent increase. In October 2006, the owner of the Billings Mobile Manor Mobile Home Park in Rutland proposed raising the rent for 2007 by $32.99 per month. This was an increase of 12.42% from the prior year. According to the CPI, the rent increase limit for 2007 was 5.2%. In response, the majority of leaseholders in the mobile home park joined together to challenge the rent increase. When mediation did not work, the residents filed suit in Rutland Superior Court with the help of Vermont Legal Aid. In November 2007, Judge Mary Miles Teachout decided that the rent increase was "clearly excessive." Based on the expert testimony at the trial, Judge Teachout ruled that the park could have a rent increase of $5.31 per month. The park owner appealed this decision to the Vermont Supreme Court. In November 2008, the Vermont Supreme Court upheld the trial court's decision, holding that the proposed rent increase was clearly excessive. As a result, anyone living in the park on or after January 2007 was entitled to pay $27.68 per month less in rent than the park owner had claimed. Park residents also received a refund for the difference already paid, and their ongoing rent has been reduced. This represented a savings of more than $330 per year for each leaseholder in the park. |
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Foreclosure Prevention Project |
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Vermont Legal Aid's new Foreclosure Prevention Project could not have come at a better time as the economic crisis intensifies, the number of foreclosures in Vermont has risen dramatically. Timely intervention and legal analysis that ensures foreclosure actions are being brought by the correct entity and in accordance with the law, has given the project leverage to negotiate loan modifications that keep people in their homes. Unfortunately, the demand for foreclosure assistance is outstripping the project's resources. As a result, VLA is looking into ways to provide more pro bono assistance to these homeowners.
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| Reasonable Housing Accomodations for Clients with Disabilities |
VLA attorneys have worked collaboratively within the projects at VLA and with outside agencies to provide services to clients with disabilities who have problems with housekeeping or hoarding. In these cases, the solution is not necessarily litigation, but the right to a reasonable accommodation to policies or procedures or to a modification of certain physical barriers - to bring the issue to a place where the parties can propose a mutually agreed upon solution that will maintain the tenant's housing or housing subsidy.
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Help Prevent Housing Discrimination!
Vermont Legal Aid's Housing Discrimination Law Project is seeking fair housing testers - volunteers who can convincingly assume the role of someone seeking rental housing and then be neutral, objective, and thorough reporters of what they observe during the process.
We particularly need testers who are people of color, people of foreign origin, and people with mobility impairments, but anyone 18 or older can be a tester.
Testing is a great way to contribute to your community and make the dream of equal housing choice a reality for everyone. To become a tester you must complete a two-hour training session and a practice test. You will receive a cash stipend and mileage for each completed test.
For more information, please contact Rebecca at (800) 747-5022 or rplummer@vtlegalaid.org.
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Thanks to Stacey Francesce for contributing her time and writing skills, and to VLA staff who provided content for this edition of JQ. |
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