DOJ Settlement in Delaware re Housing Discrimination

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SETTLES ITS FIRST LAWSUIT IN DELAWARE ALLEGING DISABILITY-BASED HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2004



WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that it has reached an agreement with six firms involved in the design and construction of three housing complexes in Delaware and Maryland, resolving a lawsuit that alleged disability-related housing discrimination. The suit is the Department's first enforcement action in Delaware concerning the accessibility requirements of the federal Fair Housing Act.

"These requirements have been in place since March 1991," said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "We trust that this court action will alert other architects, site engineers, builders, and developers of their obligations to ensure that persons with disabilities can use the multifamily housing complexes under construction in Delaware and Maryland today."

According to the government's complaint, Pettinaro Construction Company, Inc.; Architecture Plus, P.A.; Landmark Engineering, Inc.; Hillcrest Associates, Inc.; Howard L. Robertson, Inc.; and Land Tech, L.L.C. violated the Fair Housing Act by designing and constructing housing complexes in a manner that left them inaccessible to people with disabilities. The properties are Rockwood Apartments in Bear, Delaware; Bethany Bay Resort Community in Sussex County, Delaware; and West Creek Village in Elkton, Maryland.


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