By Roshan Abraham: Complete Post through this link…
In October, the Washington, D.C., attorney general’s office announced the largest civil award in a housing discrimination case in U.S. history. The lawsuit was filed in 2020 against D.C. real estate firms DARO Realty, DARO Management Services, and Infinity Real Estate LLC, which oversaw investing for companies. A judge ruled that DARO would have to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by holders of Section 8 vouchers, a federally funded payment system that allows low-income people to rent in the private market.
What’s more, DARO had to dissolve its property management business and certain members of leadership who were named as defendants were permanently banned from owning property management businesses in D.C. The company’s president, Carissa Barry, was required to forfeit her real estate licenses for 15 years.
The sweeping ruling brought encouragement to agencies struggling to enforce laws against voucher discrimination. And it suggested that low-income families using the vouchers could eventually gain a fighting chance in a private market rife with discrimination.
