Baton Rouge workshop addresses tenant and landlord rights under Fair Housing Act

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Landlords, tenants and community organizations gathered for a workshop designed to answer questions about rights under the Fair Housing Act.

The Fair Housing Act originated from unfair practices impacting people based on their protected class, including discrimination due to race, color, disability, sexual orientation, origin or family status.

Chief Grant Administrator Daryl Blacher of the Mayor’s Office of Community Development said most people don’t know their rights, and something as simple as a rental ad can cross a legal line.

“Individuals, a lot of individuals who are renters, for example, don’t know that they can file discrimination complaints if a landlord says, well, we’d love to have you here, but you have three, four, five children or you have children at all,” Blacher said.

Eviction calls prompt workshop

The Mayor’s Office of Community Development said just this week, more than 50 people called their office facing eviction.

“Because of the influx of calls that we’ve received, we thought this was very, very needed,” Blacher said. “Of course, it just hit the tip of the iceberg or just whet the appetite because we’ve observed here today that we need far more time for each individual agency to be able to ask questions and get answers.”

Blacher said landlords must be careful in how they advertise available units.

“You have to be very, very careful in how you advertise a unit or a complex that you have available to say that mature adults welcomed or encouraged or a nice suitable environment for adults only, well then you’re discriminating from individuals who may have children,” she said. “Or if you basically use adjectives or adverbs that make it seem as though you’re welcoming one class of people and discriminating against another, you have to be very careful with those types of advertisements.”

Protected classes vary across Louisiana

Protected classes may vary across the state. Shreveport has an extended set of protected classes, as do New Orleans and several other parishes. In Baton Rouge, protected classes include disability, color, race and familial status.

The workshop included representatives from the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, the Louisiana Department of Justice, the Attorney General’s Office and Southeast Louisiana Legal Services.

Blacher said even when the Office of Community Development covers finances for tenants or brings them current on their rent with a pending eviction notice, some landlords continue to evict them after that amount is paid.

Resources available for complaints

Blacher advised people who feel they are being discriminated against to contact the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, where they can file a complaint online or on paper. The Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, located in New Orleans, has a toll-free number and represents the entire state. That number is (877) 445-2100.

The Mayor’s Office of Community Development has resources available at BRLA.gov.

At least 80 people registered for the workshop. Organizers said it was the first in a series of workshops on the topic.

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