Share This:

Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Against Housing Authority in Louisiana Resolved by US Justice Department

Louisiana / Washington D.C. – On October 3, 2022, the Department of Justice announced that the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and seven private developers had agreed to pay $250,000 to settle claims that they violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to design and construct eight multifamily residential properties and associated places of public accommodation that are accessible to people with disabilities. The defendants also agreed to carry out substantial retrofits to remove accessibility barriers at the properties as part of the settlement.

The settlement, which must be approved by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, requires the defendants to pay all retrofit costs, provide $200,000 for a settlement fund to compensate individuals harmed by inaccessible housing, and pay a civil penalty of $50,000 to the federal government.

“Under federal law, people with disabilities must have the same access to housing as other people,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “These eight properties house thousands of residents, many of whom live with a disability. This settlement will ensure that residents with disabilities will have an equal opportunity to live safely in and enjoy their homes.”

“All citizens deserve safe, affordable, and accessible housing,” said U.S. Attorney Duane A. Edwards for the Eastern District of Louisiana. “The successful resolution of this matter helps meet the needs of our vulnerable, disabled, and elderly residents.”

Bienville Basin, Columbia Parc, Faubourg Lafitte, Fischer Senior Village, Guste III, Harmony Oaks, Marrero Commons, and River Garden are the properties at issue. Seven of these properties were built as part of HANO’s post-Hurricane Katrina public housing reconstruction.

The alleged accessibility barriers at the properties include, among other things, steps and excessive slopes leading from sidewalks and other public areas to unit entry doors or building entrances; common areas and amenities that are inaccessible to people with disabilities, such as mailboxes mounted too high for people using wheelchairs to reach; and insufficiently wide openings at interior doors that make them inaccessible to many people with mobility impairments.

Individuals who believe they or someone they know may have been hampered by inaccessible features at any of the properties listed above should contact the Justice Department at [email protected] or leave a message at 1-800-896-7743 Ext. 996.

The Justice Department enforces the FHA, which forbids housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or familial status, through U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Civil Rights Division. Among other safeguards, the FHA requires any multifamily housing built after March 13, 1991, to have minimum physical accessibility features, such as access paths without steps to all single-story, ground-floor units and all units in a building served by an elevator. Individuals with disabilities are protected under the ADA from discrimination in public accommodations, including rental offices and related facilities and parking in this instance.

www.usdoj.gov/crt contains further information about the Civil Rights Division and the statutes it enforces. Individuals can report housing discrimination to the Justice Department by dialing 1-833-591-0291, emailing [email protected], or filing an online report. Individuals can also report discrimination to the Department of Housing and Urban Development by calling 1-800-669-9777 or filing an online complaint by following this link.

Follow this link to report a typo or other issue.