The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to settle a lawsuit it filed against the former owners of Barrcrest Manor Apartments in East Hempfield Township for allegedly refusing to rent to a visually impaired man who uses a guide dog.
Under the terms of the agreement, the former owner, Malvern-based National Properties Inc., would pay up to $60,500 to resolve the lawsuit filed in February 2007 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The court has yet to approve the settlement.
The lawsuit resulted from an investigation conducted in June and August 2007 called Operation Home Sweet Home, a fair-housing test program that employs people to pose as potential renters to get leads on discriminatory practices in the rental market.
"I am pleased that the defendants have agreed to make reasonable accommodations for persons who use guide dogs," Grace Chung Becker, acting assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, said in a statement released Thursday. "Operation Home Sweet Home has helped to ensure that persons with disabilities are not discriminated against in their search for a place to call home."
The agreement calls for the defendants — National Properties Inc., NPI Management Corp., Barrcrest Manor Associates and former complex manager Sandy Brown — to pay up to $25,000 to compensate any victims of discrimination at Barrcrest Manor. They also would pay $35,000 in civil penalties to the federal government, establish and follow nondiscriminatory tenancy procedures and undergo fair-housing training.
The lawsuit alleged that Brown and National Properties discriminated on the basis of disability because they refused to make legally required "reasonable accommodations" in their no-dog policy.
The month the lawsuit was filed, Barrcrest Manor Apartments was sold to Philadelphia real estate investment firm BPG Properties Ltd. The $22.8 million deal included two other Lancaster County complexes, Greenview Terrace and Village Green apartments. BPG is not a party to the lawsuit and was not implicated in any wrongdoing.
The name of the 85-unit complex at the center of the lawsuit, located in the 1700 block of Marietta Avenue, has since been changed to Madison at Barrcrest Manor.
No one currently associated with the complex was available Thursday to comment on the agreement.
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and family status.
Since 2001, the federal government has filed 271 cases to enforce the Fair Housing Act. Of those cases, 125 alleged discrimination on the basis of disability.
E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com