So You Are Renting…

...And you are being harassed by neighbors or you are in a long term care facility and the other residents are harassing you, what can you do?

Well an appeals court just ruled in our favor.

Lesbian's lawsuit against senior center highlights question of landlord's legal duty to stop harassment
Chicago Tribune
By Gregory Pratt
February 7, 2018

Marsha Wetzel says her senior living home failed to halt the physical and verbal abuse other residents inflicted on her for being a lesbian.

The home, Glen St. Andrew Living Community in Niles, maintains that it did not discriminate against Wetzel and that her claims stem from “ongoing squabbles with an older male resident and a couple of isolated incidents with two elderly female residents.” The allegations do not merit a federal case under the Fair Housing Act, no matter how “cranky or offensive” the residents’ words have been, the home’s attorneys said.

A federal judge last year dismissed Wetzel’s lawsuit, but a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Chicago heard arguments Tuesday that could revive discrimination claims against Glen St. Andrew for allegedly failing to protect the 70-year old woman.
[…]
Glen St. Andrew’s attorney, Lisa Hausten, argued in court filings that the home did not discriminate against Wetzel. To the contrary, the senior home defended Wetzel when she first complained and offered medical care after Wetzel said she was pushed from behind while on her scooter, Hausten argued.

But Loewy said Glen St. Andrew had the power to stop residents who discriminated against Wetzel and failed to do so.

Well now the appeal has been heard, Lambda Legal just issued a press release,

VICTORY! Seventh Circuit Holds Housing Providers May Be Liable for Anti-LGBT Abuse Endured by Residents
By Lambda Legal
August 27, 2018

In a case closely watched by both LGBT and housing rights advocates, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit today overturned a lower court ruling and held that Glen St. Andrew Living Community in Niles, Illinois, can be held accountable for purposefully failing to protect lesbian senior Marsha Wetzel from the harassment, discrimination and violence she suffered at the hands of other residents because of her sex and sexual orientation.

“This is a tremendous victory for Marsha,” said Karen Loewy, Lambda Legal Senior Counsel and Seniors Strategist. “She, just like all people living in rental housing, whether LGBT or not, should be assured that they will at least be safe from discriminatory harassment in their own homes. What happened to Marsha was illegal and unconscionable, and the Court has now put all landlords on notice that they have an obligation to take action to stop known harassment.
[…]
“This duty is particularly clear for senior living facilities like Glen St. Andrew, whose staff are entrusted and paid to provide a safe living environment for seniors, including LGBT residents. We are grateful that the Court understood and reinforced that understanding.”
[…]
In today’s ruling, the Court said:

Not only does [the Fair Housing Act] create liability when a landlord intentionally discriminates against a tenant based on a protected characteristic; it also creates liability against a landlord that has actual notice of tenant‐on‐tenant harassment based on a protected status, yet chooses not to take any reasonable steps within its control to stop that harassment.

Note “…it also creates liability against a landlord…”

What does that mean to us?

Well suppose you live in an apartment complex and one of your neighbors is harassing you because you are trans, you tell your landlord and he does nothing; well now we know that this violates the Fair Housing Act.