Chicopee Housing Authority Settles Disability and Race Discrimination Lawsuit

BOSTON - The Chicopee Housing Authority (CHA) and its former Executive Director, have resolved a lawsuit alleging that the CHA and its Director engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against CHA tenants based on race, national origin, or disability.

The Consent Order requires CHA to pay $435,000 to compensate individuals harmed by its discriminatory practices and a $25,000 civil penalty to the United States. The settlement also requires CHA to make broad changes to protect the rights of tenants with disabilities, including hiring a Disability Rights Coordinator, implementing new policies for handling tenant requests for reasonable accommodations and transfers and building nine new accessible housing units for persons with disabilities. The Consent Order also bars future discrimination and requires CHA to implement new discrimination complaint procedures and employee training.

Pursuant to the agreement, CHA Director, Monica Blazic will resign from her role at CHA by the end of 2024 and will not have further involvement with CHA.

The matter arose from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which, in March 2021, found that CHA and Blazic violated the Fair Housing Act by failing to allow a tenant with end stage renal disease to transfer to a first floor or elevator accessible one-bedroom unit needed for her to receive daily in-home dialysis. The United States initially filed suit against the defendants in April 2021 for failing to make reasonable accommodations. In December 2021, the United States amended its lawsuit to include additional claims that the defendants had engaged in a pattern of disability discrimination. Specifically, the amended complaint alleged that CHA, for years, had systematically postponed requests for reasonable accommodations made by tenants with disabilities who were seeking to transfer apartments for medical reasons. Additionally, the United States alleged that the defendants discriminated against Black and Hispanic tenants when Blazic made discriminatory statements about and to Black and Hispanic tenants, including using racial slurs and other derogatory language.

"It is completely unacceptable for public housing officials to discriminate based on race and disability. This settlement will compensate the tenants who were harmed by CHA's illegal practices and ensure that the housing authority will move forward with new leadership and new systems in place to protect its tenants from discrimination in the future," said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. "By creating new accessible housing units, CHA will also be better able to meet the needs of the community."

"Racial and national origin discrimination, and discrimination against persons living with disabilities, are unlawful and will not be allowed in our country's housing market," said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Diane M. Shelley of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "HUD applauds the Justice Department for reaching this settlement and will continue supporting its efforts to hold housing providers accountable when they fail to meet their obligations under the nation's housing laws."

CHA tenants may be eligible to participate in the settlement fund if they previously requested to transfer apartments to accommodate a disability, and the transfer was improperly delayed or denied by CHA. Those tenants are encouraged to contact the U.S. Attorney's Office by calling (617) 275-8756 or by emailing [email protected].

Acting U.S. Attorney Levy; Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke; and HUD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Shelley made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hillary Harnett, Anuj Khetarpal, Gregory Dorchak, Michelle Leung and Jennifer Serafyn from the Civil Rights Unit handled the matter. The resolution of this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Civil Rights Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office was established in 2015 with the mission of enhancing federal civil rights enforcement. For more information on the Office's civil rights efforts, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-ma/civil-rights.