Management Firm Accused of Housing Bias

Federal housing officials demanded documents Thursday from 50 entities and individuals affiliated with Yoder-Shrader Management Co. of Santa Ana as it launched an investigation into allegations that the company discriminated against prospective tenants because of race or young children in the families.

The investigation was announced at a news conference by Andrew Cuomo, secretary of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, who appeared via satellite from Washington.

Nine apartment complexes operated by the company, containing about 1,300 units, are under investigation. Eight are in Fullerton, one is in Buena Park. Cuomo said he personally initiated the federal probe, continuing an investigation begun a year ago by the Fair Housing Council of Orange County, because of the insidious nature of the alleged discrimination, which he called “discrimination with a smile.”

A former Yoder-Shrader manager was shown, in disguise, on videotape Thursday alleging that it was company policy to limit the number of minorities and families with children in the apartment complexes.

“These people were told politely, gently, but falsely, that there were no apartments available,” said Cuomo of minority investigators sent by the housing council to test the availability of apartments, which were offered to white testers soon after the minority testers had departed. “No smile can hide the ugly face of discrimination.”

Calls to Yoder-Shrader headquarters in Santa Ana went unanswered Thursday. The company is owned by Ervin E. Yoder Jr. and Varnie J. Shrader, according to property records. Efforts to reach both Yoder and Shrader were unsuccessful, and a name partner of a local law firm that has defended them in the past said he did not remember his firm representing them.

A former manager of the company, who was one of two employees who spoke with investigators of the Orange County Housing Council, said she was told by her supervisor to avoid renting to blacks, Latinos, other minorities and families with children.

“The management didn’t try to keep minorities out entirely--that would have been obvious discrimination,” said the woman, who appeared in disguise because she said she feared retaliation within the property management industry, where she still works. “I also noticed that minority residents were clustered together.”

The apartment complexes are owned by various partnerships and trusts with connections to the Yoder and Shrader families, said Elizabeth Martin, director of litigation for the housing council.

Martin said about 40 testers were sent to all 11 of the Yoder-Shrader properties in Orange County, and filed complaints involving nine of them. The eight Fullerton units are located near Cal State Fullerton and Fullerton College.

Testers who inquired about apartments for families with children were frequently told outright that the complex limited the number of families, or that families were restricted to ground-floor apartments, said Mercedes Marquez, HUD deputy general counsel and a former Los Angeles attorney whose law firm gained notoriety in recent years for filing “slumlord” lawsuits.

It is a violation of federal law to discriminate in housing on the basis of color, religion, national origin, sex, family status or disability. State law is identical, and adds a ban against “arbitrary” discrimination.

Violation of the Fair Housing Act carries a maximum fine of $11,000 in civil penalties for the first offense and $55,000 for each additional offense. Victims also can be compensated for actual damages, humiliation, mental distress and loss of housing opportunities, officials said.

The HUD office has created a toll-free hotline for people who sought apartments in the complexes and were told none were available. The number is (800) 347-3739.

Martin said prospective tenants may not have realized they were discriminated against because it wasn’t overt. In some cases, she said, the housing council investigation showed that, when apartments weren’t immediately available, applicants’ names were taken but allegedly only white applicants were called back.

“What happens now in the real world is that minorities and other members of a protected class were given wrong information, and loaded up with brochures and applications, and they walked out feeling like they’d been given the royal treatment,” she said.

“But when you send a minority tester and a Caucasian tester and another minority tester and Caucasian tester in within six minutes and the apartment is only available to the Caucasians . . . that’s what we have to stop.”

“Fundamental to America is the ability to live where you want,” Cuomo said. “Nothing does more damage to the concept of ‘one America’ than housing discrimination.”

Since 1992, HUD has reached out-of-court settlements in 6,517 housing discrimination cases, according to department statistics. It took action on 1,085 cases, winning $17.8 million in compensation for housing discrimination victims.

HUD also operates a general, toll-free hotline to report discrimination complaints in English and Spanish. That number is (800) 669-9777.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Housing Complaints

The Fair Housing Council of Orange County accuses Yoder-Shrader and the owners of the following apartment complexes of acting illegally to limit the number of tenants who were minorities and/or families with children:

In Fullerton

* Boondocker

* El Dorado

* Idylwood

* Kashmir

* Moonraker

* The Nutwood

* The Pines

* Sturbridge Village

In Buena Park

* Elmwood

HUD HOTLINE

If you believe you have been unfairly denied an apartment at any of these complexes, you are encouraged to call a special toll-free HUD hotline, (800) 347-3739

Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development