FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.,
Nov. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/
-- The Law Offices of Jibrael S. Hindi established another
important milestone for low-income tenants with a ruling from the
Broward County Circuit Court in favor of their client, the Florida
Fair Housing Alliance. In this case of first impression, Broward
County Circuit Court Judge Carlos A.
Rodriguez denied defendant's, Waterview at Coconut Creek
Apartments, Motion to Dismiss and found that testing organizations
like the Florida Fair Housing Alliance do in fact have standing to
sue in state court under the Broward County Ordinance that
prohibits landlords from denying people seeking to rent housing
based on "source of income" such as Section 8 Housing Vouchers. The
ruling was made on November 4, 2021
in the Circuit Court of the 17th Judicial Circuit In and for
Broward County, Florida (Case No:
CACE21009252-Division 14).
Last month, on October 7, 2021,
The Law Offices of Jibrael S. Hindi, representing the Florida Fair
Housing Alliance, received a historic ruling from the Miami-Dade County Court in favor of their
client. The ruling was made at a hearing on a motion by the
defendant, 800 Capri Apartments, to dismiss the Florida Fair
Housing Alliance's discrimination lawsuit that they brought as a
testing organization. FFHA's lawyer, Jibrael Hindi, successfully
argued in front of Miami-Dade County Judge Alan Fine, that testing organizations such as
the FFHA do indeed have standings to bring claims pursuant to
Section 11A-12 of the ordinance. The court ruled that nothing in
the ordinance prohibits a testing organization from bringing such
claims. This ruling was the first ruling in history recognizing
tester organizational standing pursuant to the Miami-Dade Ordinance
prohibiting discrimination based on source of income (Case No:
2021-001063-CA-01).
Florida Fair Housing Alliance (FFHA) is a non-profit
organization with its primary mission of rooting out discriminatory
housing practices in Florida. FFHA
conducts tests against apartment complexes in Florida to make sure that they are not
conducting various types of prevalent discriminatory practices
against minorities.
Additional details about the case - Florida Fair Housing
Alliance, Inc. vs. Waterview Apartment Holdings, LLC dba Waterview
at Coconut Creek Apartments.
Pursuant to its mission of ensuring equal access to housing for
all, Florida Fair Housing Alliance began investigating the
"Waterview at Coconut Creek"
apartment community, located at 3621 West Hillsborough Blvd,
Coconut Creek, Florida 33073, for
discriminatory housing practices.
On January 14, 2021, at
approximately 2:11 p.m., a field
tester called the Waterview at Coconut
Creek and was connected to an agent of the apartment
complex. The field tester first asked if rental property was
available. The agent responded that rental property was available,
namely, a two-bedroom apartment. The field tester then asked if the
complex accepted Section 8 payment vouchers and the defendant
responded that it did not. As confirmed by the call, the complex
refuses to accept Section 8 payment vouchers, i.e., Section 8
Housing Choice Vouchers. Refusing to accept Section 8 Housing
Choice Vouchers is unlawful discrimination based on source of
income.
FFHA filed a suit on May 7, 2021
claiming that the defendant Waterview at Coconut Creek violated § 16½-35(b), (c) and
(d) of the Broward County Code of Ordinances, which prohibits
discrimination based on source of income.
"We are very pleased with the order. It serves as another step
forward to protect tenants from source of income discrimination,
one of the violations that we have been combating over the last
couple years. There are county ordinances that prohibit landlords
and apartment complexes from denying tenants that want to use
Section 8 housing vouchers or governmental rental assistance
vouchers," said Jibrael S. Hindi, who brought both recent cases on
behalf of the Florida Fair Housing Alliance.
For more information on the Law Offices of Jibrael S. Hindi,
please visit https://jibraellaw.com/.
Media Contact
Ilona Wolpin, Anoli Management,
+1 (954)298-8784, ilonawolpin@anolimanagement.com
SOURCE Law Offices of Jibrael S. Hindi