How Should You Respond to Tenant-on-Tenant Harassment?

Q: A tenant on the third floor tells you that one of your white tenants (Ms. W) has been steadily barraging her Black neighbor (Ms. B) with racial slurs over the course of several years. Although you’ve always suspected that Ms. W was a bit of a racist, you’re utterly shocked that Ms. B has never once complained—and neither have any of your other Black tenants. What you should do?

HUD recently announced that the owner, management company, and a former property manager of an Atlanta community have agreed to pay $10,000 to settle allegations that they violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to allow a resident with disabilities to transfer to a ground-floor unit.

In our November 2012 lesson, “Be Prepared for Fair Housing Testers,” the Coach reviews recent developments that point to a renewed emphasis on traditional fair housing testing. With the influx of millions in HUD funding earlier this year, state and local enforcement agencies and private fair housing organizations are gearing up to recruit, train, and deploy fair housing testers. Now more than ever, it’s important to ensure your community complies with fair housing law—that way, you’ll be likely to pass any fair housing test.