Group: Complex discriminates against the young

Attorney for Boynton Bay community says it’s operating legally.

BOYNTON BEACH — A r e n t a l apartment complex that caters to seniors has been the subject of undercover operations. But the investigators are not police, and they’re not investigating crimes.

Instead, a nonprofit organization is going undercover to see whether the Boynton Bay community, which offers low-income affordable housing, is discriminating against young people.

Palm Beach County Legal Aid Society officials said the communit y is illegally advertising for renters who are 40 and older. And, they say, the development shouldn’t be able to advertise even as a 55-and-older community. But, the nonprofit says, it has proof the community is doing both.

“If they put these artificial age restrictions on here then there’s less opportunity for members of the community to live there for low-income,” said Tequisha Myles, an attorney for the Palm Beach County Legal Aid Society’s Fair Housing Project.

The nonprofit says Boynton Bay didn’t complete the requirements to be 55 and older, and asking specifically for 40-andolder residents violates county ordinances. The count y organization has accused Boynton Bay of violating state and local fair-housing laws.

An attorney for Boynton Bay rejects the accusations.

“My clients have operated the property legally as a 55+ community as they are permitted to do under federal, state and local laws,” attorney Leslie Langbein said in a statement.

Langbein said the development is allowed to operate the property as senior housing, and called upon federal laws that say at least one resident in 80 percent of the units in a community must be 55 or older. And, a 55+ community can determine the criteria to set for the other 20 percent of the available units, Langbein said.