CAAS Joins Class Action Lawsuit, Alleges Discrimination

The Community Action Agency of Somerville, Greater Boston Legal Services, and two Massachusetts tenants have filed a lawsuit against SafeRent Solutions, LLC due to allegations of violating the Fair Housing Act. According to the lawsuit, SafeRent’s tenant screening system disproportionately rejects applications from Black and Latino renters.

This screening system uses applicants’ credit scores to determine eligibility, but fails to take Section 8 vouchers into consideration, which are “[subsidies] paid directly to the landlord on behalf of the participating family by the housing agency.” Historically, Black and Latino consumers have lower credit scores than white consumers, meaning that Black and Latino renters are more likely to be rejected even when the majority of their rent will be secured through the vouchers.

“Credit scores are not an indication of an ability to pay rent,” Ashley Tienken, Director of Housing Advocacy at CAAS, explained. “Someone can have a 500 score and still pay their rent every single month. These scores are often not due to housing related costs. Sometimes people needed to open a store credit card to buy their child a laptop for school, or furniture, or a car, or they have student loans. Then when faced with the decision to pay rent or their credit card bill with their limited income, they chose rent.”

“Someone can have a 500 score and still pay their rent every single month. These scores are often not due to housing related costs. Sometimes people needed to open a store credit card to buy their child a laptop for school, or furniture, or a car, or they have student loans. Then when faced with the decision to pay rent or their credit card bill with their limited income, they chose rent.”

CAAS is joining the lawsuit to advocate for their clients who hold Section 8 vouchers but are denied housing at SafeRent Solutions-managed properties. The issue was flagged by CAAS Housing Advocates, who work one-on-one with clients to manage their cases and help them find housing. Advocates will often work together with voucher holders for many months as they search for housing. As a result, the Advocates were some of the first people to notice the issue, which prolonged the search process for some clients’ to find homes. 

According to Ashley, “[Vouchers are] a golden opportunity for a household to choose their own safe, affordable housing. These practices force voucher holders to face more systemic barriers and push Somerville residents out of the area. Our clients are trying their best in a system that’s incredibly broken. Advocates are doing everything possible to stand up for them and for the fact that housing is a basic human right, but even the best of clients face this barrier.”

“Our clients are trying their best in a system that’s incredibly broken. Advocates are doing everything possible to stand up for them and for the fact that housing is a basic human right, but even the best of clients face this barrier.”

As of right now, it’s unclear how long the lawsuit will take. However, the Housing Advocacy Program (HAP) team and their clients are optimistic that this could eventually lead to systemic change. CAAS and the other Plaintiffs now have the ability to impact and potentially change laws that have created barriers to housing.

We stand with our clients and hope that we can help end practices that create barriers to affordable housing!