D.C.’s Office of the Attorney General has filed three lawsuits aimed at protecting residents from housing discrimination.
One lawsuit accused a Northwest D.C. landlord of refusing to rent to a prospective tenant because she is Black.
The suit alleged that during a showing of a row house on 13th Street Northwest to a Black woman, the owner said she “had only had white tenants and had never had a problem with any of them.”
The prospective tenant replied that she would take good care of the home if she was allowed to stay there. The landlord replied: “Everyone says that until they move in.”
The would-be renter said the landlord later repeated her preference for white tenants two more times, and refused to write a letter allowing the prospective tenant to get assistance from the Housing Choice Voucher Program to pay for the security deposit.
A second lawsuit accused the owner and management of an apartment complex on 25th Street Southeast of repeatedly denying a tenant with mobility issues a designated disability parking space within 200 feet of her apartment.
In a third suit, the attorney general’s office said a Craigslist ad for a town house for rent on Galveston Street Southeast included the words “No Section 8,” which refers to the public rental assistance program.
The office said each case demonstrates violations of the District’s Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on things such as race, disability and — in the case of housing — source of income.
