YPSILANTI, MI – A fair housing advocacy center has filed a race discrimination lawsuit against an Ypsilanti apartment complex owner, alleging its “no felony” policy disproportionately impacts blacks.

The lawsuit was filed by the Fair Housing Center of Southeast & Mid Michigan on Feb. 26 in federal court.

It claims that Red Lion Apartments and its owner, Erie Investments, deliberately chose to implement and maintain a “more discriminatory method for criminal records screening that automatically excludes a greater number of prospective tenants who are African-American.”

The lawsuit alleges the policy has resulted in prospective applicants being either deterred from applying for a tenancy with Red Lion Apartments or automatically denied after spending money on an application.

“A landlord’s wish to be ‘strict’ towards prospective tenants does not give them the right to violate federal law,” said Pamela A. Kisch, executive director of the Fair Housing Center. “2016 HUD Guidelines make it clear that property agents must look at each person on an individual basis. How long ago did the felony occur? How old was the person at the time? What has this person accomplished with his or her life since that time?”

The Fair Housing Center, represented by attorney William F. Piper of Piper Law in Portage, has taken numerous complaints of discrimination based on criminal background, including bans on individuals who have arrest records.

Fair Housing Center alleges Erie Investments has a policy in place that automatically excludes any prospective tenant from renting an apartment within the Red Lion Apartments if a felony appears on their background check.

The Red Lion website’s online application includes a required question asking if an applicant has “felony, sex-related crime, or misdemeanor assault conviction.”

Erie Investments bought the former Riverside Manor Apartments at 159 S. Grove St. in August for $2.6 million through a Michigan State Housing Development Authority auction in 2013.

Erie Investments Owner Mike O’Lynnger could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit claims Erie’s policy is a violation of the Fair Housing Act while having a disparate impact in violation of the Elliott-Larson Civil Rights Act. The Fair Housing Center is seeking a permanent injunction against the policy, as well as compensatory and punitive damages and attorney's fees.

The lawsuit claims the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2016 guidelines confirms that automatic bans, like Erie’s criminal record policy, have a disproportionate adverse effect on African Americans because of disparities in the criminal justice system.

“Specifically, the defendants’ decision to maintain a far-reaching No Felony Conviction policy, despite the housing industry’s rejection of such policies precisely because of their discriminatory impact, suggests that this policy was intended to limit the number of African-Americans living at the Red Lion Apartments,” the lawsuit states.

“... One can infer from this that the disparate outcome identified by HUD is exactly the outcome intended by the defendants.”

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