Feds Sue Rental Companies Justice Department Claims Three Spokane Firms Biased Against People With Kids

The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday against three Spokane rental companies, claiming they refused to offer apartments to families with children.

The suit accuses Spokane’s biggest clearinghouse for rental units - Computerized, the Rental Company - with routinely discriminating against people with kids.

It also claims two big landlords - Joseph Blumel and Reugh Construction - violated the federal Fair Housing Act by discouraging families from renting their units.

“The family is the core of our society,” said Deval L. Patrick, assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights. “Denying housing to families raising children is not the American way.”

For Computerized, which serves thousands of landlords and tenants each year, the federal complaint is the second lawsuit it’s faced in the past three months for the same alleged discrimination.

Evidence for both suits was gathered by “testers” working for Columbia Legal Services. The testers impersonated landlords and tenants requesting rental information after repeated complaints from families claiming unfair treatment.

One tester said a Computerized employee asked if he would accept “kids or pets.” Another said she was told some landlords don’t want “kids running around.”

The testers’ findings triggered a class-action discrimination lawsuit filed by Columbia in November. The two suits may be combined for one trial.

“We’re not discriminating here,” John Cornett, president of Computerized, said after the first lawsuit. “We’re providing information.”

Efforts to reach Cornett Thursday were unsuccessful.

James Reugh, vice president of Reugh Construction, said Thursday he was stunned by the lawsuit. “The accusations are ludicrous,” he said.

Reugh said the testers either misquoted or misunderstood his manager, who oversees the company’s “hundreds” of Spokane rental units.

“We preach to our managers that kids are welcome,” Reugh said.

Joseph Blumel couldn’t be reached for comment.

The Justice Department has run its own discrimination testing program across the country, producing 31 federal suits in eight states.

“This suit sends a clear message to housing providers in Spokane to either allow families with children equal housing opportunities or pay the price for violating the law,” said James Connelly, U.S. attorney in Spokane.

, DataTimes