Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Housing bias complaints rise

Nevada, one of the few states in the nation with no agency to handle housing discrimination complaints, has seen the number of complaints rise dramatically in the past three years.

In addition, because the complaints must be filed with the Housing and Urban Development Development office in San Francisco, many Nevadans with complaints may not be getting help, according to the state arm of the federal agency that monitors civil rights violations.

The issue is drawing attention as the state faces its third straight annual increase in the number of housing discrimination complaints in Clark County, according to HUD. Total complaints went from 18 in fiscal year 2001 to 43 so far in fiscal 2003, which doesn't end until Sept. 30.

Statewide the complaints rose from 58 in 2001 to 85 in 2003.

Nevada is one of 12 states nationwide to leave housing complaints solely in the hands of the Department of Housing and Urban Development instead of partnering with state or local agencies to resolve the complaints, according to HUD.

"This makes it harder for victims and it makes it harder for landlords," said state Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, who has worked on housing issues.

David Sanchez, chairman of the state committee advising the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said the panel would investigate the issue as part of its first-ever comprehensive report on civil rights in Nevada, currently in its starting stages and likely to take up to a year to complete.

The issue has been brewing for some time. For at least a decade Nevadans with complaints about being discriminated against in their search for housing have had to file with the San Francisco HUD office, said Chuck Hauptman, director for HUD's office of fair housing and equal opportunity overseeing Nevada, Arizona, California and Hawaii. This can be done by mail or over the Internet or telephone.

But Nevada's system may be discouraging people from coming forward with complaints and keeping complaints from being addressed as quickly as they should be, observers in and out of government said.

Fafie Moore, president of Realty Executives of Nevada and a member of the state committee advising the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said the current situation makes it harder for those who face discrimination to come forward.

"One of the biggest issues in addressing housing discrimination is the intimidation factor," Moore said.

"If the money were there for the complaints to be handled at a level other than HUD, than people would feel less intimidated," she said. "People need a local place they can go to for help."

Though HUD has an employee in Las Vegas, he spends most of his time investigating complaints after they've been sent to the San Francisco office, as well as monitoring other HUD programs, Hauptman said.

"He's got his hands full ... and a face-to-face interview is much better at the intake stage," he said.

Hauptman also said that having a state agency working hand-in-hand with HUD would probably lead to faster results for people facing discrimination.

"We're not on-site and administratively it would be much more efficient to have local presence," he said.

"I can only hypothesize that if you have more people working on the ground in Las Vegas and Reno, you'd have people receiving faster services because you'd have more resources," he added.

A state statute says that the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, which responds to workplace discrimination complaints, should also take care of housing jointly with HUD.

But the Legislature has never given funds to the equal rights commission for housing complaints, said Lynda Parven, administrator for the agency.

"We have a hard enough time getting funding for employment discrimination," Parven said. "(So) we have to refer to complaints to HUD."

Parven described the issue as one that "somehow fell through the cracks" and hopes her agency will ask the Legislature to resolve the long-standing issue in the 2005 session.

Resolving the issue becomes more pressing as HUD's caseload increases and federal funds do not, Hauptman said. The official added that Southern Nevada's rapid growth has contributed to the increase in complaints, particularly by handicapped people who allege a lack of physical access to housing.

The region also has seen many settlements -- in the hundreds of thousands of dollars -- for cases involving lack of access for the handicapped in recent years, Hauptman said.

Southern Nevada has one of the highest numbers of design and construction settlements for those types of cases, often resulting in high-dollar amounts, he said.

Examples in recent years include a July 2002 settlement for $390,000 paid by the developers and builder of Serenade Condominiums in Henderson; a January 2001 settlement for $1.9 million paid by the Camden Property Trust and involving nine Las Vegas apartment complexes; and a February 2001 settlement for $228,000 paid by Pacific Properties and Development involving four Las Vegas apartment complexes.

Southern Nevada's growing immigrant population is also the victim of housing discrimination, Hauptman said, and many of them don't know that there are laws to protect them.

"(They) may not know they have the right to file ... (and) a lot of complaints aren't being filed," he said.

A local office would be much more effective at getting the word out about the rights and responsibilities of residents and landlords alike, he said.

Buckley supported efforts in 1997 to have the Nevada Equal Rights Commission take on housing discrimination in Nevada, but saw those efforts fall by the wayside when advocates and legislators had reservations about the funding and handing the job over to an agency that then had a large backlog.

Buckley said she would again back the issue if it were raised in the next legislative session.

"In the long run, Nevadans would be better served by having an effective local office," she said.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy