{"id":13803,"date":"2015-07-20T18:57:21","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T01:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803"},"modified":"2015-07-20T19:00:51","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T02:00:51","slug":"l-a-county-housing-authority-agrees-to-pay-2-million-to-resolve-racial-discrimination-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803","title":{"rendered":"L.A. County Housing Authority Agrees to Pay $2 Million to Resolve Racial Discrimination Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"Lancaster_CA\"<\/a>Blacks with Section 8 housing vouchers were discouraged and excluded from living in the cities of\u00a0Lancaster and Palmdale, which teamed with the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, to launch a campaign of discriminatory enforcement against Blacks, officials alleged.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Department of Justice took the case to federal court alleging that the discrimination occurred between 2004 and 2011.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/a>
Map of the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster in Los Angeles County<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, the Department of Justice settled with the Housing Authority and the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale to resolve allegations that they targeted Blacks by discriminating against them.<\/p>\n

The agreement will ensure unbiased enforcement of the Section 8 housing voucher program so that Blacks are not targeted because of their race, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

The Housing Authority and the cities agreed not to discourage or exclude Blacks from living in those cities, officials said.<\/p>\n

Fueled by public opposition, Lancaster and officials also directed and encouraged deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to make disparaging remarks about the voucher program and discouraged landlords from renting to voucher holders.<\/p>\n

The Housing Authority agreed to pay $1.9 million as damages on behalf of itself and the cities along with a $25,000 fine.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Settled Its Civil Complaint<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a>The Sheriff’s Department settled its case also, which means a total of $2.6 million is available to people harmed by this discrimination policies.<\/p>\n

Sheriff’s deputies agreed to reforms including not using excessive force or illegal searches and seizures, according to the settlement reached in April.<\/a><\/p>\n

The department estimates that hundreds of African-American voucher holders were subjected to the defendants\u2019 discriminatory conduct, including many of the about 200 who were interviewed in the course of the department\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal government officials worked with the Los Angeles County Housing Authority and the Sheriff\u2019s Department to subject African-American families to discriminatory enforcement actions in an effort to discourage them from using Housing Choice vouchers to live in Lancaster and Palmdale,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California.\u00a0<\/strong> \u201cThis type of discrimination is fundamentally wrong and is inconsistent with American values of freedom and equality.\u00a0 This settlement, together with an earlier settlement with the Sheriff\u2019s department, will ensure it does not recur, and will also provide more than $2.6 million to compensate those harmed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Housing Authority and Sheriff Department \u00a0used their resources to engage in more intrusive and intimidating compliance checks and referring those households for termination from the voucher program at greater rates than white voucher holders living in the cities, or any voucher holders living elsewhere in the county of Los Angeles, according to federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Reforms Part of the Agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Department<\/a>The Housing Authority make reforms to its voucher program enforcement protocol, and will cease, for at least six years, the use of unannounced field compliance checks. \u00a0Also it will not share personal information about voucher holders with any third party, including LASD or the cities, according to officials.<\/p>\n

Lancaster and Palmdale have agreed to enforce their ordinances and process complaints in a way that treats voucher holders and their landlords no differently from other renters and landlords.<\/p>\n

Each city will develop procedures for handling discrimination complaints, and have agreed not to seek identifying information regarding voucher holders.<\/p>\n

Each city will implement a fair and affordable marketing plan to make clear that the cities are open to all regardless of race, and each will designate a person or entity to oversee compliance and receive complaints of alleged discrimination, among other things.<\/p>\n

Many voucher holders who were discriminated against will be eligible to have voucher terminations removed from their public housing record, and a few of those who were improperly terminated will be reinstated to the voucher program, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

Employees of both cities and the Housing Authority officials are required to participate in fair-housing training to prevent discriminatory conduct in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES Blacks with Section 8 housing vouchers were discouraged and excluded from living in the cities of\u00a0Lancaster and Palmdale, which teamed with the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[1483],"class_list":["post-13803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-los-angeles-housing-authority"],"yoast_head":"\nL.A. Housing Authority Pays to Settle Discrimination Case<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"L.A. County Housing Authority agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit for nearly $2 million\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"L.A. Housing Authority Pays to Settle Discrimination Case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"L.A. County Housing Authority agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit for nearly $2 million\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-21T01:57:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-21T02:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Palmdale.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"L.A. County Housing Authority Agrees to Pay $2 Million to Resolve Racial Discrimination Case\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-21T01:57:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-21T02:00:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803\"},\"wordCount\":674,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/Palmdale.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Los Angeles Housing Authority\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803\",\"name\":\"L.A. Housing Authority Pays to Settle Discrimination Case\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/Palmdale.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-21T01:57:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-21T02:00:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"L.A. County Housing Authority agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit for nearly $2 million\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=13803#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/Palmdale.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/07\\\/Palmdale.jpg\",\"width\":333,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"L.A. Housing Authority Pays to Settle Discrimination Case","description":"L.A. County Housing Authority agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit for nearly $2 million","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"L.A. Housing Authority Pays to Settle Discrimination Case","og_description":"L.A. County Housing Authority agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit for nearly $2 million","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2015-07-21T01:57:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-21T02:00:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":333,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Palmdale.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"L.A. County Housing Authority Agrees to Pay $2 Million to Resolve Racial Discrimination Case","datePublished":"2015-07-21T01:57:21+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-21T02:00:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803"},"wordCount":674,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Palmdale.jpg","keywords":["Los Angeles Housing Authority"],"articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803","name":"L.A. Housing Authority Pays to Settle Discrimination Case","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Palmdale.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-21T01:57:21+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-21T02:00:51+00:00","description":"L.A. County Housing Authority agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit for nearly $2 million","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=13803#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Palmdale.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Palmdale.jpg","width":333,"height":500},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13803"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13811,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13803\/revisions\/13811"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}