One of Sonoma County’s most prominent affordable housing developers has settled a federal complaint that alleged it discriminated against people with disabilities.

As a result of the settlement, Burbank Housing Development Corporation and Burbank Housing Management agreed to pay $41,500 and require employees training in fair housing laws, among other conditions. Burbank has developed and/or manages more than 70 housing properties in the North Bay.

The Santa Rosa nonprofit affordable housing developer was the subject of an administrative complaint filed with the federal government in 2022 by Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California, which said in a news release that for many years it had been receiving complaints from Burbank tenants.

The complaints alleged that Burbank employees in various ways responded unreasonably and/or slowly to their requests for access to accommodations for their disabilities — including by requiring that assistance dogs be a certain weight or breed — or denied their requests.

The 2022 filing was with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Under the terms of the settlement, Burbank did not admit to any wrongdoing or violation but also acknowledged that “they have an affirmative duty not to discriminate.”

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In the second North Bay settlement announced within a two-week period in April, a San Rafael-based fair housing advocacy organization settled a housing complaint against Burbank Housing Development Corp. and Burbank Housing Management.

The Sonoma County affordable housing developer manages or owns more than 70 housing properties in Sonoma and Napa counties. It settled the legal complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity for $41,500, Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California reported April 15.

Complaints filed in June 2022 accused the nonprofit of failing to abide by laws that guard against discriminatory practices against people with disabilities.

Fair Housing and the Sonoma County Tenants Union representatives met with renters who claimed they were “experiencing barriers to accessing reasonable accommodations from Burbank Management.”

One such disability allegation involved a tenant who wanted to adopt cats at the Parkwood Apartments on Montecito Boulevard, which allows pets. The dispute between the management and tenant involved the documentation surrounding the pet adoption.

“She didn’t fill out the necessary paperwork. It was frustrating,” said James Perez, the complex manager. “We’ve approved many pets. We’re not here to say no to anybody (wanting to have one).”
The complex has since streamlined the paperwork required to keep pets on the premises, he said. A policy change was also made in a concession to having a cat “on a leash” on the premises.

FHANC v. Burbank Signed Complaint - 6.30.22.pdf

Burbank agreed overall to consider “reasonable accommodation requests,” without an admission of guilt or wrongdoing, Burbank Housing spokesman Patrick Montgomery said.

“The agreement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by Burbank Housing nor the evidence of a determination by HUD that there was any violation of the Fair Housing Act or any other law by Burbank,” Montgomery said.

According to Fair Housing Advocates, disability-related discrimination ranked the most prominent of complaint calls in 2022-23 per county in the North Bay. The percentage of disability-related complaints in Marin County was 92, which is 82% of the complaint calls; Sonoma County had 96 at 90% rate; and Solano County with 57, comprising 84%.

Click here to read the article on the North Bay Business Journal website.

A Novato apartment complex has settled a discrimination complaint filed by Northern California fair housing advocates with the state regarding its ban on renting to Section 8 housing applicants, housing authorities reported.

As part of the settlement, Novato Park Apartments on Novato Boulevard agreed March 21 to pay $35,000 and change its policy to rent to those using the federal housing assistance program. In addition, the apartment complex must advertise all vacancies on AffordableHousing.com and include “Equal Opportunity Housing Provider” on promotional materials, among other mandates.

Click here to read the article on the North Bay Business Journal website.