California city agrees to end ‘crime-free’ housing policy

A Southern California metropolis agreed Wednesday to pay $1 million and finish a discriminatory housing program aimed toward evicting criminals in what federal prosecutors stated was the primary settlement of its variety within the nation.

The town of Hesperia, San Bernardino County and its sheriff’s division violated the Honest Housing Act by partaking in a sample and apply of discrimination to drive Black individuals and Latinos from the excessive desert metropolis, in accordance with the consent filed in courtroom.

Assistant Lawyer Common Kristen Clarke stated the settlement was the primary from a case difficult so-called “crime-free housing” ordinances and will ship a message to an estimated 2,000 cities nationwide which have related insurance policies in place which can be usually discriminatory.

“Hesperia’s ordinance was a blatantly racially discriminatory resolution to an issue that didn’t exist,” Clarke stated. “This meant evictions of whole households for conduct involving one tenant and even company or estranged relations. It meant evictions of the survivors of home violence. It meant evictions within the absence of concrete and actual proof of legal exercise.”

The town, county and sheriff’s division denied the allegations and didn’t admit legal responsibility however agreed to pay $1 million to settle the case, in accordance with the courtroom order. The town repealed the ordinance final month and the sheriff agreed to cease implementing it.

The majority of the settlement — $670,000 — will go to tenants who had been evicted. A few of the cash will fund advertising and marketing for truthful housing and the sheriff’s division pays a $100,000 civil penalty, prosecutors stated.

The town and county didn’t instantly remark.