National Group Charges Bank of America With Housing Discrimination
Today the National Fair Housing Alliance announced it will file a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development based on its own investigation.
The group is charging Bank of America for blatantly failing to maintain and market foreclosed properties in minority neighborhoods including several in the Atlanta area.
Officials say throughout the nation, bank-owned or foreclosed properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods are neglected.
Investigators found an abundance of trash, broken windows, overgrown grass and weeds and no signage indicating the property is for sale.
The housing alliance’s attorney Peter Romer-Friedman, says Bank of America owned properties that fit these descriptions and that violate the fair housing act.
“It discourages potential purchasers from buying homes in communities of color; it restricts the housing choices in communities of color and leaves purchasers of properties in these communities struggling to remediate problems caused by months or years of neglect.”
Those failings are clearly visible in several Atlanta areas, says Gail Williams.
“The majority of the properties are located in the Southwest Atlanta, the city of Atlanta and in south DeKalb County,” says Williams.
Williams is the executive director for Atlanta’s Metro Fair Housing Services.
She says 71 homes were investigated.
The evaluation measures included curb appeal, signage, structure quality and water damage.
“Overall, of the 71 properties that we looked at, 45 percent of them were rated D’s and F’s. That was in Southwest Atlanta, South DeKalb County and mostly in the Stone Mountain area.”
Since 2009, officials with the National Fair Housing Alliance say Bank of America has been repeatedly warned about its lack of compliance in maintaining the properties.
In a statement, Bank of America said it shared the group’s concern about the neighborhoods but strongly denies the allegations and stand behind their property maintenance and marketing practices.
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