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By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com

INDIANAPOLIS — Two Evansville apartment complexes were named in a complaint to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleging a large housing group with properties in Indiana is illegally turning away families with children.

Addison Place and North Park apartments, both owned and operated by AMP Residential, were two of 20 complexes named in the complaint. Those complexes, located in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, are being accused of discriminating against families with more than four members by enacting rules mandating no more than two people in a bedroom.

That means a family of five would need to rent an apartment with three bedrooms, regardless of how big a two-bedroom apartment is. With most apartment complexes only offering one or two bedroom layouts, the complaint alleges they are effectively pushing families with children away.

Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center for Central Indiana, said things like what they're seeing in the 20 apartments named in the complaint shouldn't be happening.

"It's disappointing and frustrating that we still find housing providers enacting written policies to prevent families with children from enjoying their right to equal housing," Nelson said.

AMP did not respond to requests for comment.

The Central Indiana housing center is joined on the complaint by four other housing centers from Michigan and Ohio. The complaint argues adequate room is determined by square footage per person, not by how many bedrooms are in a floor plan. The complaint also states the apartments don't take into account smaller rooms such as dens, which the housing centers say can be used as a bedroom.

Nelson said the compliant was sent to Maurice McGough, the Midwest regional director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. McGough will review the complaint and, if he finds there is discrimination, send the case to federal court.

According to the complaint, the Central Indiana center sent an investigator to Addison Place and North Park posing as a parent of a five-person family. In both instances, the investigator was told families that size cannot rent at either location because of the two person per room rule.

The complaint spells out one such interaction at Addison Place where the investigator was asking about a two-bedroom, 1,155-square-foot Kensington apartment.

"Before confirming whether the Kensington apartment was available, AMP's leasing agent asked the tester how many occupants would be living in the unit.

When the tester told the agent that the unit would be occupied by his family of five, AMP's employee told the tester that the property adhered to a two-person per bedroom policy and, as a result, he would be unable to rent the unit there," the complaint reads.

Evansville has its own code on how many square feet must be available for each occupant in a housing development. Current law states a bedroom with more than one occupant must have at least 50 square feet per occupant. According to the floor plans of the Kensington model in question, one bedroom is 196 square feet, big enough for three occupants, the smaller bedroom is 120 square feet, big enough for two occupants under the city guidelines.

Nelson said she couldn't speak to the intent of AMP but said there seems to be a policy in place at their housing complexes that courts have ruled against in the past.

"There simply aren't that many three or four bedroom apartments being built anymore," Nelson said. "That creates a real problem for families trying to find affordable housing."

Nelson said it's hard to say when a ruling could come down. She said typically complaints with HUD tend to take about as long as normal litigation.