AG HEALEY REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH BOSTON HOUSING PROVIDER FOR FAILING TO ACCOMMODATE A YOUNG CHILD’S DISABILITY
Child with Asthma Exposed to Secondhand
Smoke and Rodent Infestation; Case Is Part of AG’s Ongoing Efforts to Combat
Housing Discrimination in Massachusetts, Including New Guidance for Landlords
and Tenants
BOSTON – A property management
company and its owner have agreed to pay $35,000 in restitution and implement
no smoking policies in its Roxbury and Dorchester affordable housing units, to
settle allegations that they unlawfully denied a tenant and their young
disabled child the reasonable accommodations necessary to address secondhand
smoke and a rodent infestation that posed a serious health risk to the child,
Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.
To help educate landlords, tenants,
and those in the real estate business about requirements to provide reasonable
housing accommodations, the AG’s Office today issued new resource guidance with information on
state and federal housing laws. The AG’s Office also issued guidance for tenants on what to do
when conditions in a home negatively impact their health or the health of a
family member. Both resources guides are available in English and Spanish.
“Housing providers cannot deny tenants their
right to a safe and sanitary home,” said AG Healey. “My office is committed to
enforcing nondiscrimination and other laws that protect vulnerable tenants from
living in conditions that make them sick, and we will continue to educate
landlords and tenants about their rights and obligations under the law when it
comes to apartment conditions and accommodations.”
According to the AG’s settlement with Peabody Properties, Inc., a large
property management company, and the apartment’s owner, JPNDC Pitts MM LLC, the
two companies violated the state's antidiscrimination and consumer protection
laws by failing to make a reasonable accommodation for a young child with
asthma, despite repeated requests from the child’s parent and medical team.
JPNDC Pitts and Peabody Properties allegedly failed to adequately address
secondhand smoke that was seeping into their apartment and failed to mitigate a
serious rodent infestation in the building that was aggravating the child’s
asthma. While the two companies initially provided air purifiers for the
family’s unit at the time they moved in, the air purifiers did not abate the
presence of secondhand smoke in the unit and the child suffered serious medical
consequences as a result. Requests from the child’s parent and medical team to
transfer to a non-smoking unit as further reasonable accommodation were
ignored, and the child’s health worsened as a result.
Under the terms of the
settlement, JPNDC Pitts and Peabody Properties have agreed to pay the family
$35,000, to implement a no smoking policy across the entire JPNDC portfolio of
affordable housing units – which includes more than 200 units in the Boston
area – and develop a plan to ensure the policy is enforced. Peabody Properties
has also agreed to assist the family in accessing waitlists for properties
outside of the JPNDC Pitts property portfolio that are smoke-free.
This case was referred to the AG’s Office from the Boston Fair Housing
Commission, which found probable cause that the two companies failed to provide
a reasonable accommodation.
AG Healey has been a leader in
combatting housing discrimination in Massachusetts and has taken similar action
involving discrimination against tenants with disabilities. In 2021, the AG’s
Office reached
a settlement with the Boston
Housing Authority to resolve allegations that it denied a tenant and child with
significant health issues access to suitable housing. During Fair Housing Month
in April, the AG’s Office announced the resolution of four
housing discrimination cases in
which tenants were refused housing due to their receipt of public assistance.
In the same month, AG Healey reached agreements with two companies as part of
an ongoing investigation into the tenant screening and background check
industry for potential discriminative algorithms being used to screen
prospective tenants for housing. Additionally, in 2020, several South Shore real estate brokers resolved an investigation by the AG’s Office into
allegations that they discriminated against prospective tenants based on
receipt of public assistance.
The Massachusetts Attorney
General’s Office is committed to enforcing the state’s antidiscrimination laws and encourages
those who have concerns about housing discrimination to call the office’s Civil
Rights Division at 617-963-2917 or to file a complaint online.
Today’s settlement matter was handled by Managing
Attorney Amanda Hainsworth of AG Healey’s Civil Rights Division, with
assistance from Ciara Tran of the AG’s Civil Investigations Division.
To view the AG’s reasonable accommodations resource guide
for housing in English, click here. For Spanish, click here.
To view the AG’s guidance on tenant rights related to
apartment conditions in English, click here. For Spanish, click here.
