The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against owners and managers of Suburban Heights Apartments, a residential rental property in the St. Louis suburb of Kinloch, Missouri, alleging that they discriminated against prospective Black tenants by banning tenants with any past felony conviction and certain other criminal histories.
The defendants – Suburban Heights LLC, Crestline Property LLC, Triline Properties LLC and Jingle Properties LLC – each owned and/or managed the property at various relevant times since at least 2015. The DOJ alleged that from at least November 2015 to January 2024, the defendants publicized and enforced a categorical ban on tenants with felony convictions and certain other criminal histories, regardless of how long ago the conviction occurred.
“This policy excluded prospective tenants based on their criminal histories, which are known to have significant racial disparities, and which are not accurate proxies for actual underlying criminal activity nor reliable predictors of future criminal activity,” said the DOJ in a press statement. “By choosing to use that policy, the defendants likely deterred prospective Black tenants from applying to rent and excluded them from housing opportunities at Suburban Heights Apartments.”
The allegations were based, in part, on evidence generated by the department’s Fair Housing Testing Program, in which individuals pose as prospective renters to gather information about possible discriminatory practices. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages to remedy the harms caused by the defendants’ policy, a civil penalty to vindicate the public interest and a court order barring future discrimination.
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This is so dumb. Criminality is not a protected class. Just because some races have higher correlation with crime does not mean they were discriminating based on race. They are allowed and should to discriminate against felons! It does not matter how long ago they committed a felony!!!!!!
Obviously you don’t understand the effects of systemic racism. How is it that blacks are so highly disproportionally convicted of felonies in the first place? You should diligently do some homework.
Criminal history is not a protected class.
Every crime in America has a maximum penalty attached to it. The trial judge is authorized to pronounce a punishment sentence up to the maximum. No further punishment is allowed. The felon label is not based on the kind of crime, it is based on the maximum possible sentence. Every crime that is punishable by 1 year and 1 day or more is classified as a felony. A simple shoplifting crime if the shoplifted items have value over twenty five hundred dollars is a felony. After the sentence has been completely served the U.S. Constitution does not authorize multiple punishments for the same crime.
sounds like you believe wrongly that certain “races” have higher correlation with crime. That alone sounds discriminatory!
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. I agree this is dumb.
Who wants to fill “THEIR” apartment building with felons? If the government feels this wrong, they should provide the housing then.
Jail maybe?
More details please. And so everybody knows, you might cite the exact part of the anti discriminatory law that this case is based on. Just for clarification. Thanks,
Who are we to continue to punish someone who already paid for a crime. They need housing too or should they just become homeless because they made a mistake. Come on people, don’t be so judgmental.
OUTRAGEOUS. Criminals are not a protected class and this poses undue hardship on owners and managers. Further, This is a safety issue for people and outrageously aggressive reach on the part of the DOJ.
It is called “Disparate outcomes”. If your policy just happens to affect more protected class folks than other people, they can sue you. Everything is racist. Credit scores are probably next.
I agree with previous comment. What is the exact section that they are citing? That information shared would educate many of us.
I remember when if you had a felony you could not vote. Now it’s .kumbaya. I guess I would say that it would depend on what the felony was and how long ago. Because you are raised with little money does not give you the excuse to rob someone or to commit manslaughter or many of the other felonies. Just like the original conviction was decided, I think an owner especially a landlord has the right to protect their tenants. Let them decide the level of risk they want to take. Decision based on severity of and when committed.
The DOJ press release states, “This policy excluded prospective tenants based on their criminal histories, which are known to have significant racial disparities, and which are not accurate proxies for actual underlying criminal activity nor reliable predictors of future criminal activity,” Is the DOJ investigating Police Departments? Or are they allowed to base investigations on criminal history because, to the Police, it is an accurate predictor? This reads like a logic fallacy to me although I can see where my logic could be fallacious.
If they rent to a “known felon” and then that felon commits a crime on the property, maybe they rape someone, then the Landlord will be sued for “leasing to a known felon”. You literally cannot win, the legal system is broken and this is an outrageous DOJ position, outrageous, if a private property owner does not want to lease to a felon, they should not be forced to!!!!
What about Megan’s Law. This is an issue .