TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/091889/09188900.002

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 4KB | 65 lines

LAW, Page 75

Opening the Door to Kids

A new federal housing law benefits families with children


    When Patricia Godbee went to look for a two-bedroom apartment
in Tampa last April, she got a rude surprise. The leasing agent at
the upscale Pavillions housing complex at Ballast Point, she
claims, refused to show her an apartment upon learning that she had
a six-year-old son. "I wasn't even given an application form," she
says. Apparently, Godbee was not alone. Other parents, who like her
had used the housing-referral services at nearby MacDill Air Force
Base, complained that they too had been given the cold shoulder by
Pavillions.

    Enter the Justice Department with a bias suit. The legal
handle: a new amendment to the Fair Housing Act that bars sellers
or renters of housing from discriminating against families with
children under 18. Pavillions, once an adult complex, denies
breaking the law, which took effect in March.

    The Tampa case, which is still under litigation, is the latest
in a boomlet of suits filed by the Government under the updated
housing statute. Says Attorney General Dick Thornburgh: "A new era
has begun. We are committed to a fair but firm enforcement of the
new law." In New Jersey the department has already obtained a
pro-children settlement against LaFonge Associates, operator of the
Somerset Mews in Franklin Township. The firm agreed to pay $8,000
to one family and $25,000 to the Housing Coalition of Middlesex
County, which helped investigate the case. The department is
currently pursuing other cases in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Wisconsin. The law exempts most housing intended for the elderly
from its child-discrimination provisions. But the Department of
Housing and Urban Development, which also has power to enforce the
law, has so far received some 100 complaints from Florida alone --
virtually all of them raising questions about the contours of the
exemption.

    Housing discrimination against children is a widespread
phenomenon. The 1980 study that helped lay the basis for the
federal law indicated that 26% of the rental units in the country
had adult-only policies, and that many others imposed arbitrary
restrictions on the number, sex or age of youngsters. Sixteen
states now have their own laws against such bias. "There is a real
need to protect families with children," says California
Representative Don Edwards, a leading sponsor of the federal
measure. "Yuppies are willing to pay more if they can park their
BMWs at complexes occupied only by people like themselves."

    Landlord groups claim that anti-discrimination laws are
unnecessary because the housing supply is large and diverse enough
to accommodate families with children. They also argue that
children, with their propensity to break windows and trample
shrubbery, can pump up operating costs. Moreover, many apartment
dwellers seek out the tranquillity of a child-free environment.
Says Bobbi Jo Pingor, 26, a resident of the Pavillions in Tampa:
"I love children, but I don't want to live with them."

    The law's backers counter that stamping out child
discrimination will protect one of the most helpless groups in
society. They maintain that the legislation is needed to help
countless families who have had to scramble for shelter and settle
for either inferior or more expensive housing. In some desperate
cases, families have had to split up temporarily, or even go
homeless. With this law, child advocates say, the Government
promises youngsters at least a fairer chance to obtain a good roof
over their heads.