City of Los Angeles to pay $38.2M in federal housing lawsuit

The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $38.2 million to settle allegations it failed to meet federal accessibility requirements when it used U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant funds for multifamily affordable housing, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today. 

The settlement resolves a 2017 whistleblower suit filed by a Los Angeles resident who uses a wheelchair, and by the Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley, a nonprofit disability-rights advocacy group. 

The claim alleged that, for over a decade, the city failed to follow federal accessibility laws -- including the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act -- when building and rehabilitating affordable multifamily properties, and failed to make its affordable multifamily housing program accessible to people with disabilities. 

"By failing to make certain that HUD-funded multifamily housing was appropriately built or rehabilitated to meet federal accessibility requirements, the city discriminated against people with disabilities," said HUD Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis. 

The laws require 5% of all units in certain federally assisted multifamily housing to be accessible for people with mobility impairments and an additional 2% to be accessible for people with visual and auditory impairments, according to the Justice Department. 

Recipients of these funds must also maintain a publicly available list of accessible units, detail accessibility features and designate at least one city employee to coordinate accessibility efforts, which the Justice Department said L.A. did not do. 

The federal government alleged that the housing was not structurally accessible because of failures like slopes that were too steep, counters that were too high, and thresholds that did not permit wheelchair access.  

Further allegations include that the city failed to maintain a publicly available list of accessible units and their accessibility features, and that the city knowingly and falsely certified to HUD that it complied with these grant requirements despite its failure to do so.  

"In this instance, HUD determined that the City of Los Angeles fell far short of its responsibilities to provide HUD-funded accessible housing, but the settlement agreement provides a fresh start for HUD and the City to work collaboratively to address the City's pressing housing needs," said General Counsel Damon Smith of HUD. 

Mayor Karen Bass' Office responded Monday afternoon to the complaint, adding that the Mayor has prioritized increasing housing opportunities for all Angelenos and is ensuring that affordable housing units are accessible to tenants with disabilities.

The city, through its Accessible Housing Program is working to ensure compliance with accessibility requirements in publicly supported housing in Los Angeles, and recently celebrated the 1,000th unit certified through this program earlier this year, according to the Mayor's Office.

"This is a complaint that was filed seven years ago and now we can move forward. The Mayor has broken the old model of addressing the housing and homelessness crisis and will continue to act with urgency to save lives and taxpayer dollars,"   Zach Seidl, Deputy Mayor of Communications said.