Private equity landlords’ screening process discriminated against renters, lawsuits contend
Two large private equity-backed landlords discriminated against prospective tenants by relying on faulty screening systems, according to two lawsuits.
Two large private-equity-backed landlords discriminated against prospective tenants by relying on screening systems reporting inaccurate information about applicants’ previous evictions and criminal histories, according to two lawsuits filed Wednesday by an Indianapolis housing nonprofit group. The lawsuits follow complaints by tenants and their advocates about the impact some private-equity-backed landlords have had on residents, including junk fees, reduced property maintenance and frequent evictions.
The new litigation centers on Tricon Residential, a California-based landlord recently acquired by the Blackstone Group of New York City, one of the country’s more prestigious private equity firms, and Progress Residential, a landlord owned by Pretium Partners, which is overseen by Don Mullen, a former Goldman Sachs executive. The suits were brought by the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, an advocacy group serving residents of 24 counties in the state. Both Tricon and Progress denied tenant applications based on inaccurate information generated by a third-party screening service, the lawsuits say, and they allege that neither landlord verified the information.
Relying on such information is a form of racial discrimination, the lawsuits say, because Black people are more likely to be evicted and more likely to be “stopped by law enforcement, arrested, convicted, and imprisoned at the federal, state, and local levels.” Enforcing categorical policies about evictions and criminal histories harms otherwise-qualified Black applicants, the lawsuits say.
“We have such low vacancy rates, coupled with rising housing costs and wages not keeping up, people are struggling to find new housing,” said Amy Nelson, executive director of the Fair Housing Center. “Any sort of barrier can be devastating, and we’ve been doing a lot of outreach to get the word out about tenants’ screening-based barriers.”
Staff members of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana: Brady Ripperger, Ericka Fotsch and Amy Nelson, the executive director.Fair Housing Center of Central IndianaA spokesman for Tricon Residential said in a statement: “Tricon adheres to all Fair Housing laws and believes the allegations in this suit are baseless.” The events detailed in the lawsuit occurred before Blackstone purchased the company; a Blackstone spokesman declined to comment.
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