The new lawsuit alleges that many large real estate companies and various landlords refused to accept Article 8 vouchers for low-income renters.
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A number of major real estate brands, including Keller Williams, Caldwell Banker and eXp Realty, are facing new lawsuits for discriminating against low-income New Jersey renters.
The Housing Rights Initiative (HRI), a housing rights advocacy and watchdog nonprofit, filed a lawsuit Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges that a group of landlords and realtors refused to rent the units to prospective New Jersey residents using government-provided Section 8 housing certificates.
“They violated state law even as Jersey City and Newark face a housing crisis and continue to suffer from the global pandemic.” Complaint To read.
News of this lawsuit was first reported new jersey monitor.
The lawsuit ultimately names 26 different landlords and real estate companies as defendants. Prominent brands among these defendants include Keller Williams Realty, eXp Realty, Century 21 Real Estate, Caldwell Banker Realty and RE/MAX.
Inman has reached out to these brands and will update this article with any comments they provide.
The complaint explains that the incident began in 2017, when HRI began receiving reports of discrimination in New Jersey. The organization then began “civil rights tests” by calling housing suppliers to ensure they were complying with fair housing laws, according to the complaint.
Many say it wasn’t.
“In many cases, their investigations uncovered policies and practices that effectively refused to accept vouchers, leading HRI to take steps to address such violations of the law,” the complaint reads. ing.
It further details multiple instances when HRI representatives called about Newark and Jersey City rentals and were told that owners did not accept Section 8 housing vouchers. The calls were reportedly made between 2021 and 2023.
The complaint states that the landlord’s and broker’s conduct constitutes unlawful discrimination leading to “the socio-economic segregation of New Jersey.”
“Defendants’ discriminatory policies have resulted in a significant reduction in the inventory of safe, affordable housing available to low-income individuals,” the complaint adds.
The new lawsuit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, comes in the settlement of years of discrimination in the real estate industry. Discriminatory practices such as redlining have plagued the industry for decades, but a 2019 study that revealed widespread discrimination among Long Island agents made the issue even more urgent. bottom.
Since then, discrimination lawsuits have become a hot topic one after another. In 2021, for example, a New York law firm sued Keller Williams, EXIT Realty, and dozens of other firms for alleged rent discrimination. This incident was also based on an HRI investigation.
And last year, Redfin settled a lawsuit over allegations of “digital redlining.”
Many industry leaders, including Redfin CEO Glenn Kellman, have also become increasingly outspoken about the need to combat housing discrimination.
In the latest lawsuit in New Jersey, HRI is asking the court to stop the defendants from discriminating against voucher users and to award unspecified monetary damages to HRI.
Speaking with new jersey monitorHRI Executive Director Aaron Carr said the defendants in the case were “clearly violating the law” and said the justifiable conduct was “unacceptable.”
“We are trying to get real estate companies to abandon discriminatory practices and follow the damn laws,” Carr added.
Email Jim Dalrymple II
