Indians denied house, US sues errant owner
Washington, July 17: The US justice department has filed a lawsuit against the owner and management of an apartment complex at Renton in Washington State for racial discrimination against Indians who were treated less favourably than other tenants and even told to “go back” to India.
The lawsuit seeking monetary damages and an order barring further discrimination was filed on Friday in the US district court for the Western District of Washington and named as defendants Summerhill Place LLC — the owner of Summerhill Place Apartments; GRAN Inc. — the management company; and Rita Lovejoy, the site manager.
The suit alleges, among other things, that the defendants steered Indian tenants away from one of the five buildings at Summerhill, treated tenants from India less favourably than other tenants and discouraged African-Americans, Hispanics and families with children from living at Summerhill. The names of Indians have not been revealed.
“Equal access to housing in the United States is a fundamental right,” said the assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, Mr Thomas E Perez.
The company and its staff engaged in discriminating against Indian tenants by not replacing their carpets or their broken appliances, while providing such services to other similarly situated tenants, the law suit alleges.
It also alleges that one or more Indian tenants were told that their children cannot play outside and that they should take them to park to play.
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