HUD to Probe Property Management Company

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is launching a formal investigation today into allegations that an Orange County property management company has engaged in “widespread discrimination” against minorities and families with children, a spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.

The name of the company was being withheld Wednesday out of concern that it might try to alter or destroy records before it is officially informed of the investigation, which was initiated through the Fair Housing Council of Orange County. The company manages hundreds of apartments in central Orange County.

HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo will announce the federal probe at a press conference today at the agency’s Los Angeles office, where he will appear via satellite from Washington. The investigation is part of a national crackdown on housing discrimination initiated by Cuomo last year at the direction of President Clinton.

HUD spokeswoman Nancy Flores declined to discuss the alleged acts of discrimination in detail, but said the probe will indeed focus on unlawful discrimination by the Orange County company.

Under federal law, it is illegal to discriminate in housing on the basis of race, national origin, religion, sex, family status or disabilities. State law is identical and also bars “arbitrary” discrimination.

Flores said company officials will be notified of the investigation today.

The Fair Housing Council’s investigation into the company began about a year ago after a complaint by a prospective tenant at one of about a dozen properties managed by the company, according to sources among the county’s housing advocates.

The local investigation intensified when a whistle-blower alleged that it was the company’s policy to discriminate against certain ethnic groups and families with children.

The Fair Housing Council’s findings were communicated this week to HUD’s fair housing office in Orange. None of the apartment units in question were involved in HUD subsidized-housing programs.

In an unrelated housing matter Wednesday, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) asked Cuomo to reconsider HUD’s rejection last month of a $15.1-million grant application by Orange County on behalf of 18 community organizations that had proposed projects for the homeless, disabled and victims of domestic violence.

“The funding is essential for maintaining minimum levels of housing service, and its loss is devastating for residents of the third-largest county in the state of California,” Sanchez said in the letter.

During a conference call this week with local housing officials and Sanchez’s office, HUD grant evaluators said the county’s application received a score of 67 while the funding cutoff score was 73.

The county’s application relating to the continuation of care that the funds would provide was deemed insufficient, so the county was only given half the possible score for that portion.

“HUD informed the county that the underlying reason for the low score was that the application contained insufficient information for a thorough examination,” Sanchez wrote, complaining that HUD officials in Los Angeles didn’t provide adequate assistance to the county in preparing the request.

HUD officials said last week that the grant application process was highly competitive. About $120 million worth of the special grants were disbursed throughout 24 counties and four cities in California, including $45 million for Los Angeles County. In December 1996, the county received $7.3 million in grant funding for 22 local projects.