The Delaware Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust secured settlements in two cases that awarded $50,000 collectively for two individuals.
In December 2022, DCRPT reached a settlement with north Wilmknton apartment complex Chateau Orleans Apartments for failing to reasonably accommodate a tenant with a physical disability. The no-fault settlement requires Chateau Orleans Apartments, LLC, Chateau Orleans Holdings, LLC, and Olive Tree Management to will pay the complainant $30,000, complete fair housing training and revise its fair housing accommodations and modification policies.
The settlement comes after a complaint was filed in June 2022, alleging that Chateau Apartments effectively evicted the tenant, an amputee who uses a walker and wheelchair, by failing to repair a faulty elevator which served as the tenant’s only access to their second-floor apartment unit. An investigation found that the apartments failed to repair the elevator for more than four months, forcing the tenant to find other housing.
In a second case, the state reached an agreement with the Newark-area complex The Vinings at Christiana and Capreit Residential Management LLC., on January 23, 2023, for an instance of unlawful discriminatory housing practice that left a woman and three children homeless. According to the no-fault settlement, the landlord will remit $20,000 to the complainant, complete fair housing training and update its public-facing advertising material and fair housing policies.
The settlement follows an investigation that found that the defendant violated the Delaware Fair Housing Act by failing to correctly follow the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Residential Selection Plan and wrongfully denying an applicant who held a State Rental Assistance Program Voucher on the grounds of insufficient income.
These settlements were secured by Deputy Attorney General Nicole Mozee with the assistance of Paralegal Dawn Pillarelli.
“Housing and reasonable accommodation are basic human rights,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “— and that should be especially true in a place that prides itself on being a state of neighbors. There is no room for discrimination and dereliction of duty in this arena—especially when it leaves people or families homeless. DCRPT and the Division of Human and Civil Rights did fantastic work on these cases, and they have my heartfelt thanks for helping to make this right.”
