Coping With Harassment in Housing

Sexual harassment in housing is a relatively new area of civil rights law, but is believed by fair housing experts to be widespread, affecting mostly low-income and minority women.

Some of those experts say it is more insidious than sexual harassment in the workplace.

“When sexual harassment occurs at work . . . the woman may remove herself from the offensive environment,” according to a 1987 article in the Wisconsin Law Review. “When the harassment occurs in a woman’s home, it is a complete invasion of her life.”

Housing specialists say that the abuse generally falls into five areas: abusive remarks, unsolicited sexual behavior, asking for sex in exchange for something such as rent, coercion of sexual activity by threat or punishment and punishment upon rejection of sexual overtures.

The watershed legal case in the field is Shellhammer vs. Lewallen, which involved a Toledo landlord who evicted a married pair of tenants after the wife refused to have sex with him or to pose for nude photographs. In that 1983 federal case, the court affirmed that sexual harassment in housing violates the federal Fair Housing Act.

Shanna Smith, director of programs for the National Fair Housing Alliance in Washington, was a “tester” in the Shellhammer case. She posed as a prospective renter and was told by the landlord, Norm Lewallen, that she would not have to pay rent if she would consent to having sex with him whenever he chose. Furthermore, he would not accept her rent, she said.

“When he refused to accept my money, and said I could live there for free if I slept with him, he was conditioning the rental of the unit on having sex.”

Because of the Lewallen precedent, attorneys Leslie Levy and Amy Oppenheimer opted to file the Fairfield North case in federal court.

“There are no reported cases under the (California) state law of sexual harassment in housing so there has been no interpretation of the law on this issue,” said Levy. She added that she is aware of fewer than a dozen reported cases of sex harassment in housing.

Women often do not report the harassment because they fear eviction and their claims are frequently not taken seriously.

Smith recommends that women who are being sexually harassed at home take the following actions:

* Get legal counsel immediately.

* Contact a fair housing group. “My first choice would be a private fair housing center, since they can begin an investigation without notifying the person they are investigating. HUD must notify them.”

* Call the police. “If you are in immediate danger of him entering your unit or of him assaulting you, call the police and make a report.”

* Take notes. “Make note of times, dates and what he says. If there are witnesses, get their names.”

HUD has a housing discrimination hotline, which can be reached at (800) 669-9777. The automated system will transfer you to the closest HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

Next month, a HUD brochure with an insert on sexual harassment in housing should be available by calling (800) 245-2691. Ask for the “National Media Campaign Brochure.”