WASHINGTON — DC Attorney General Karl Racine announced Thursday a landmark housing settlement that requires local real estate firms and several individual defendants to pay up,
The real estate firms named are DARO Management Services, DARO Realty and Infinity Real Estate, and the settlement specifies they must pay $10 million in penalties for illegally discriminating against renters in the District who use Section 8 housing vouchers and other forms of housing assistance.
Racine's office said the settlement is the largest civil penalty in a housing discrimination case in U.S. history.
The office goes on to detail that, in 2020, they sued the firms and several of their executives for violating D.C. civil rights and consumer protection laws by treating people who receive housing subsidies inequitably and making it difficult or impossible for them to rent apartments in its 15 buildings — located in Wards 1, 2, and 3.
DARO will pay the largest discrimination penalty in U.S. history, dissolve its property management business, and all defendants will be permanently banned from owning a residential real estate management company in D.C., according to the office.
DARO Management President and Principal Broker Carissa Barry will also be required to forfeit her real estate licenses for 15 years.
"This landmark resolution is a major victory for D.C. residents," said Attorney General Racine.
"The District has experienced among the highest levels of gentrification and displacement of longtime Black and brown residents of any city in the country in recent years. Housing vouchers are critically important to help our most vulnerable residents—including seniors, people with disabilities, and single mothers—keep roofs over their heads in our soaring rental market. When landlords break the law and refuse to accept vouchers, it's reminiscent of Jim Crow-era housing discrimination policies intended to restrain opportunities for Black residents."
Roughly 11,500 low-income District households depend on the federally funded Housing Choice Voucher Program, often called "Section 8" vouchers, to rent housing in the private market. According to Racine's office, 60% of D.C. households that use federal rental assistance are seniors, families with children, or people with disabilities. 95% of D.C. voucher-holders are Black, and 79% of households using vouchers are headed by women.
In total, more than 50,000 District residents rely on some form of subsidy for housing stability.
"Too often greedy landlords are looking for ways to drive up rents, while at the same time discriminating against residents and their families who struggle to get by, illegally preventing them from accessing housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods," said Will Merrifield, Executive Director for The Center for Social Housing and Public Investment.
The District's Human Rights Act (HRA) outlaws housing discrimination based on source of income; it's illegal for landlords to refuse prospective tenants or treat tenants differently simply because they rely on vouchers or other forms of housing assistance.
A total of 19 states and the District expressly ban source-of-income discrimination, which helps expand housing choice options for subsidy holders, including in resource-rich neighborhoods like those where DARO's buildings are located. Despite these protections, a recent study showed that 15% of District-area landlords still refuse to accept housing subsidies, according to Racine's office.