Mass Civil Rights Complaints Filed Against 205 Real Estate Agents, Brokerage Firms, and Landlords Across California for Rampant Housing Discrimination

October 8, 2024

Historic undercover investigation found rampant discrimination & clear violations of the law by real estate companies against families with Housing Choice Vouchers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose

New York, NY - A sweeping undercover investigation by the housing watchdog group Housing Rights Initiative (HRI) has resulted in the filing of what appears to be the largest housing discrimination case in California's history against 203 real estate agents, brokerage firms and landlords for illegally discriminating against families with Housing Choice Vouchers ("Section 8"). The 112 complaints (against 203 defendants) were filed en masse with the California Civil Rights Department. The defendants include some of the largest real estate companies in the country: Coldwell Banker, EXP Realty, Sotheby's International Realty, and RE/MAX.

HRI is being represented by the Inner City Law Center, Cohen Milstein PLLC, and Handley Farah & Anderson PLLC.

In 2019, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 329, which made it illegal for landlords and brokers to discriminate against tenants with housing vouchers. This historic filing serves as an opportunity for the Governor and his housing enforcement agency to enforce the very bill he signed into law and hold violators accountable.

Over the course of a year, HRI trained, equipped, and deployed an army of undercover investigators, who posed as prospective tenants with Section 8 vouchers. These investigators contacted hundreds of brokers and landlords by text message to determine compliance with California's fair housing laws. For completed tests (in which our investigators were able to conclusively determine whether a real estate company accepted vouchers), HRI found that voucher holders were explicitly discriminated against 44% of the time in San Francisco, 53% of the time in Oakland, 58% of the time in San Jose, and a whopping 70% of the time in Los Angeles.

Below are just a few examples of the alleged discrimination HRI uncovered during the course of its investigation:

• The complaints allege that a broker at EXP Realty, which is one of the largest brokerage firms in the county, illegally discriminated against one of HRI's undercover investigators:

• The complaints allege that a broker at Sotheby's International Realty, a leading multinational real estate company, illegally rejected the voucher of one of HRI's testers:

The full list of alleged violators and screenshots of the discriminatory and illegal conduct broken down by city can be found here (Important note: Rely on columns B and C for the identities of the real estate companies, as the screenshots of the text message exchanges themselves may have obsolete contact names that are automatically populated by Google Voice): Evidence of Discrimination

The goal of these filings is to get the real estate companies to stop their discriminatory housing practices and exacerbating California's homelessness and affordable housing crisis.

Furthermore, the result of HRI's investigation underscores the need for proactive and systematic enforcement to combat housing discrimination and for the State of California to provide adequate funding for the California Civil Rights Department to meet the scale of the problem. At the end of the day, whatever our non-profit can do, the government could do better, if it had the resources and the political will to get the job done.

The national implications of this filing are clear: If housing discrimination is going unchecked in the largest and most well resourced state in America, this same problem is happening everywhere.

"In 2019, Governor Newsom banned housing voucher discrimination in the state of California. The goal of this historic filing is to enforce the very bill he signed into law with the power of his own enforcement agency," said Aaron Carr,Founder and Executive Director of Housing Rights Initiative. "It's time for California to get tough on real estate crime."

"This mass filing, as historic as it is, represents just a fraction of the voucher discrimination that has been running rampant in California. By exposing this widespread and harmful practice, we call on the State to provide agencies like the California Civil Rights Department with the resources they need to eradicate voucher discrimination once and for all," said Kate Liggett, Program Director of Housing Rights Initiative.

"This landmark filing with the California Civil Rights Department shines a spotlight on the insidious and illegal practice of discriminating against families with Housing Choice Vouchers," said David Smith, Director of Litigation at Inner City Law Center."This filing will hold landlords and brokers accountable for engaging in this unlawful conduct, and hopefully result in more funding and resources being devoted to government investigation and enforcement.

Matthew Handley, partner at Handley Farah & Anderson added "Source of income discrimination in California is a pernicious and persistent problem, further aggravating the affordable housing crisis that has plagued the state for years. These complaints aim to stop this practice."

"Housing affordability is a national crisis, especially in California, where too many people pay an excessive proportion of their income for rent and are at risk of homelessness. Housing vouchers are one of the most successful methods for addressing this problem by ensuring families have access to safe and secure housing, and hundreds of thousands of Californians rely on vouchers to help pay their rent. But too often, discrimination against voucher holders only exacerbates the homelessness crisis. And because vouchers are disproportionately used by racial minorities, the elderly, and those with disabilities, this form of discrimination also has a disparate effect on these groups," said Brian Corman, partner at Cohen Milstein, who helps lead the firm's Fair Housing litigation efforts. "This lawsuit should send a clear message to landlords, property managers, and brokers, many of whom operate across the state and country, that housing discrimination will not be tolerated. It's against the law. Period."

"The persistent and widespread nature of this type of discrimination showcases the dire lack of affordable housing options available on the market here in California. Expanding the supply of affordable housing would mean corporate landlords being less likely to turn qualified tenants, including those with Section 8 vouchers, away, and to "cherry pick" their tenants, as there will be more available units, as opposed to the status quo where tenants are forced to compete for the same few units. All of these qualified tenants - just like you and I - are simply searching for stable housing, something we all have a right to," said Francisco Dueñas, Executive Director of Housing Now! "Governor Newsom made a promise to bring one million new affordable homes to the state by 2030. Currently, only 12% of that funding needed to meet that goal has been committed. It's time for him to make due on his promise and bring affordable homes to the people of California."

"SB 329 was a critical step toward preventing discrimination against voucher holders - it enabled us to hold landlords accountable when they deny housing to a prospective tenant because of their voucher," said Chione Flegal, Executive Director at Housing California. "But the Housing Rights Initiative's critical work shows that without sufficient enforcement of the law, discrimination against voucher holders will continue. We look forward to working to strengthen enforcement of SB 329 and ensure that low-income tenants can use their vouchers to access the dignified housing they deserve."

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About Housing Rights Initiative - Housing Rights Initiative takes a proactive and systematic approach to targeting, investigating, and fighting fraudulent real estate practices, promoting fair housing, and connecting tenants to legal support. HRI educates tenants about their rights to fair and affordable housing, launches investigations, and generates class-action lawsuits against predatory real estate companies. Through a legal mobilization effort, HRI lays the foundation for tenants who have been defrauded or discriminated against by the real estate industry, to seek redress and secure their rights under the law. HRI's successful investigations into and class action lawsuits against Kushner Companies were featured in the Netflix documentary Dirty Money.

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About Inner City Law Center - Inner City Law Center is a nonprofit, poverty-law firm headquartered in Skid Row, working to end the homelessness crisis by providing free legal services to the most vulnerable residents of Los Angeles. Inner City Law Center's staff of more than 130 (including 70 lawyers), together with hundreds of volunteers, fight for people facing eviction, struggling with landlord harassment, fighting to secure their veteran or disability benefits, or standing up to slum housing conditions.

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About Handley Farah & Anderson - Handley Farah & Anderson are lawyers who seek to improve the world. They fight for: workers deprived of wages, consumers deceived about products, tenants denied access to housing, farmers mistreated by processors, parents deprived of adequate parental leave, investors who were defrauded, small businesses harmed by antitrust violations, persons with disabilities denied access, whistleblowers who uncover fraud, and women and communities of color subject to discrimination.

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About Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll - Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a premier U.S. plaintiffs' law firm, with over 100 attorneys across eight offices, champions the causes of real people-workers, consumers, small business owners, investors, and whistleblowers-working to deliver corporate reforms and fair markets for the common good.

Brian Corman

Partner

Related Service Areas

• Civil Rights & Employment