By KIMBERLEY HAAS Eight senior living facilities that are inaccessible to the disabled will be retrofitted as part of a settlement between officials at the U.S. Justice Department and a New Jersey architecture firm. According to a press release issued on Thursday, the owner of J. Randolph Parry Architects P.C. has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that it violated the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to design and construct senior living facilities that are accessible to people with disabilities. The retrofits will, among other things, make the kitchens and bathrooms at these properties more accessible and useable. “The Justice Department is committed to vigorously enforcing the federal laws guaranteeing people with disabilities…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS An agreement to resolve a lawsuit against a landlord who allegedly touched female tenants and entered their apartments without consent has been reached. Officials at the United States Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that Davenport, Iowa, landlord Juan Goitia will be prohibited from managing rental housing and is required to retain an independent property manager to oversee any rental properties he has now or in the future because he violated the Fair Housing Act. “Sexual harassment by housing providers is an illegal and egregious abuse of power that deprives tenants of their right to be safe and secure in their homes,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Clarke said…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS Officials at the U.S. Department of Justice are claiming that condominiums and apartment complexes in Hawaii were built without accessible features required by the Fair Housing Act. The federal act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of disability, race, color, religion, sex, familial status, and national origin. An amended complaint was filed Monday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. Two of the five properties cited were built with financial assistance from the federal government’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. They are Kahului Town Terrace, in Kahului, Maui, and Palehua Terrace, in Kapolei, Oahu. The other three properties are Napilihau Villages and Napili Villas, in Lahaina, Maui, as well as Wailea Fairway Villas,…
Former Vice President Walter Mondale died Monday at the age of 93, and his family noted his role in passing the Fair Housing Act as a senator from Minnesota. “As proud as we were of him leading the presidential ticket for Democrats in 1984, we know that our father’s public policy legacy is so much more than that,” the Mondale family said in a statement. “The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was one of his proudest – and hardest fought – achievements.” Mondale served in the U.S. Senate from 1964 to 1976, when he was elected vice president under President Jimmy Carter. He was the Democratic nominee for president in 1984, losing 49 states to Ronald Reagan. Mondale was the…
