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TRENTON
-- The Division on Civil Rights has issued
a Finding of Probable Cause against the
owners of a South Jersey apartment complex
for allegedly denying a man the opportunity
to rent a one-bedroom apartment because
he would share the apartment with his children,
ages 6 and 9, during visitations resulting
from a divorce.
Named as the respondent in the Finding of
Probable Cause is Lake Valley Associates
LLC, trading as University Park Apartments
in Pemberton, Burlington County. University
Park, located on Swarthmore Court in Pemberton,
is accused of unlawfully denying rental
housing to Cuthbert Casimir in the summer
of 2007.
University
Park is accused of having rental policies
that unlawfully discriminate based on familial
status, including a policy of refusing to
rent one-bedroom apartments to anyone with
children, and a policy of refusing to rent
two-bedroom apartments on the second-floor
to anyone with children under age 10.
A
Finding of Probable Cause means the state
has concluded its preliminary investigation
and determined there is sufficient evidence
to support a reasonable suspicion that University
Park Apartments violated the state Law Against
Discrimination (LAD).
“Several
aspects of this case are troubling,”
said Director Vespa-Papaleo. “Among
other things, it appears a representation
was made to Mr. Casimir by University Park
management that no rental units were available
when, in fact, there were apartments available.
“In
addition, our investigation found that the
written rental policy at University Park
contained four provisions that violate the
New Jersey Law Against Discrimination including
– but not limited to – management’s
refusal to rent one-bedroom units to individuals
with children,’’ Vespa-Papaleo
added. “These policies have a disparate
impact and they deny families with children
available apartments.”
According
to the Finding of Probable Cause, Casimir
visited University Park Apartments on June
19, 2007 and inquired about available rentals.
Initially, he asked for a two-bedroom apartment
and was told there were none available.
A University Park rental agent told Casimir,
however, that he could have a one-bedroom
unit since he was the only one renting.
Casimir replied that he would take the one-bedroom
unit for the time being, but still wished
to be placed on University Park’s
waiting list for a two-bedroom dwelling.
Subsequently, Casimir was contacted by University
Park and advised that he could not rent
a one-bedroom apartment after all, because
he had children. Casimir responded that
he was going through a divorce and that
his children would not be living with him
full time. Despite that information, Casimir
was told he would need to rent a two-bedroom
unit, and that it would have to be a two-bedroom
unit on the first floor – not the
second floor -- because of the age of his
children. At the time, no two-bedroom rentals
were available on the first-floor, so Casimir
was offered a two-bedroom unit at another
complex owned and operated by Lake Valley
Associates. Casimir declined the offer and,
although he was told he would be called
when a two-bedroom unit on the first floor
became available, was never again contacted
by University Park.
According to the Finding of Probable Cause,
University Park’s Property Manager
told Division on Civil Rights investigators
that it’s been policy at University
Park not to rent one-bedroom dwellings to
tenants with children because “shift
workers” living in the one-bedroom
units do not like children. The manager
also explained to investigators that, as
a safety precaution, University Park will
not rent two-bedroom units on the second
floor to tenants with children under the
age of 10.
In
addition, the Division found that two additional
alleged policies violated the LAD, specifically
a policy requiring that “multiple
children must be of the same sex after two
years old," and a policy of “absolutely
no pets” without any provision that
the policy is not applicable to a service
or guide dog used by persons with disabilities.
The
University Park investigation was lead by
Enforcement Chief Stuart Sherman, Manager
Elizabeth Russian, and Fair Housing Investigator
Charles Washington. For more information
on fair housing, or to file a complaint
with the Division’s Housing Investigations
Unit, contact the Fair Housing Hotline toll-free
at 1-866-405-3050. To obtain free fair housing
posters, flyers, brochures, and reports,
see the Division’s website at www.NJCivilRights.org.
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