CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATIONS: DISABILITY ACCESS TO HOUSING
During ten years of work in the nonprofit fair housing sector, I developed methods for assessing housing accessibility for people with disabilities through special under-cover investigations that led to historic multimillion dollar settlements with many developers of multifamily housing, including two major builders, Archstone-Smith and A.G. Spanos. The settlements included retrofits of dwellings to make them accessible and the development of a multi-million dollar fund to support individual grants to persons with disabilities for modifications of existing dwellings.
ARCHSTONE
June 8, 2005: "WASHINGTON -- The Equal Rights Center (ERC), the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the United Spinal Association along with their counsel, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld, & Toll, PLLC and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs announced today what is by far the largest settlement of a lawsuit challenging defects in the design and construction of multi-family housing under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The settlement requires the survey of 71 apartment complexes developed by Archstone-Smith Trust and located in 16 states around the country, which contain approximately 36,000 apartment units, about 12,000 of which are covered by the settlement, and to retrofit features of the complexes, at Archstone's expense, that operated as barriers to the full use and enjoyment of these facilities by people with disabilities. Archstone-Smith Trust is the seventh largest developer of apartment complexes in the United States. Although surveys of the properties have not concluded, the cost of remediation is estimated to exceed $20 million. Archstone will also pay $1.4 million in damages and attorneys' fees and litigation expenses."
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SPANOS
"In what is being called the largest disabled-access settlement in the housing industry, Chargers owner Alex Spanos’ development company will spend more than $12 million to retrofit thousands of apartment units found to be out of compliance with fair housing laws governing accessibility.
The settlement, announced yesterday, stemmed from a lawsuit filed more than two years ago by the National Fair Housing Alliance and four of its member organizations against the Stockton-based A.G. Spanos Cos. in which they alleged numerous violations under the federal Fair Housing Act. Covered under the settlement are 123 apartment properties in 11 states, including California, although none are in San Diego County.
The Spanos Cos. agreed to spend $7.4 million to retrofit 12,300 units over the next 36 months and to contribute $4.2 million over five years to a fund that will make grants to homeowners and renters who need to make their homes accessible. Those funds are meant to compensate for 41 Spanos-built complexes encompassing nearly 3,200 units that were too difficult to retrofit."
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ARCHSTONE
June 8, 2005: "WASHINGTON -- The Equal Rights Center (ERC), the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the United Spinal Association along with their counsel, Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld, & Toll, PLLC and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs announced today what is by far the largest settlement of a lawsuit challenging defects in the design and construction of multi-family housing under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The settlement requires the survey of 71 apartment complexes developed by Archstone-Smith Trust and located in 16 states around the country, which contain approximately 36,000 apartment units, about 12,000 of which are covered by the settlement, and to retrofit features of the complexes, at Archstone's expense, that operated as barriers to the full use and enjoyment of these facilities by people with disabilities. Archstone-Smith Trust is the seventh largest developer of apartment complexes in the United States. Although surveys of the properties have not concluded, the cost of remediation is estimated to exceed $20 million. Archstone will also pay $1.4 million in damages and attorneys' fees and litigation expenses."
Read More
SPANOS
"In what is being called the largest disabled-access settlement in the housing industry, Chargers owner Alex Spanos’ development company will spend more than $12 million to retrofit thousands of apartment units found to be out of compliance with fair housing laws governing accessibility.
The settlement, announced yesterday, stemmed from a lawsuit filed more than two years ago by the National Fair Housing Alliance and four of its member organizations against the Stockton-based A.G. Spanos Cos. in which they alleged numerous violations under the federal Fair Housing Act. Covered under the settlement are 123 apartment properties in 11 states, including California, although none are in San Diego County.
The Spanos Cos. agreed to spend $7.4 million to retrofit 12,300 units over the next 36 months and to contribute $4.2 million over five years to a fund that will make grants to homeowners and renters who need to make their homes accessible. Those funds are meant to compensate for 41 Spanos-built complexes encompassing nearly 3,200 units that were too difficult to retrofit."
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