Marin apartment owners settle with anti-discrimination group

An anti-discrimination group says it has settled its case against owners of an apartment complex in Marin County who had refused to offer any of their 646 units to anyone in the Section 8 program, which provides financial aid to low-income renters.

Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California said it was contacted in 2020 by a woman who said she wanted to rent an apartment at Bon Air Apartments in Greenbrae but was told by the owners, Greenbrae Management, that they did not accept vouchers under Section 8, which are subsidized by the federal government. Such refusals are permitted by federal law but are prohibited by California law, which since 2019 has barred housing discrimination based on the source of a renter’s income.

The advocacy group said it started holding workshops for property owners in the area to inform them of the law, and posted flyers in stores, restaurants and other business locations in Marin and Sonoma counties. It also filed a complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing and sent its own investigators, posing as renters, to Greenbrae Management.

In September 2020 and March and May 2021, the advocacy group said, agents of the management firm or of Bon Air Apartments told the purported renters they did not take Section 8 vouchers.

After that, with the help of state mediators, Fair Housing Advocates and Greenbrae Management held negotiations that resulted in a settlement May 22, the advocacy group said Thursday. It requires the company to treat all applicants equally, regardless of their source of income, to document its rentals for at least three years, to post state fair-housing policies on its properties in English and Spanish, and to pay Fair Housing Advocates $25,000.

The company must also send its rental agents to Fair Housing Advocates training sessions once a year for the next two years. Greenbrae Management did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, but agreed that it cannot discriminate against Section 8 renters and can be sued by the state agency if it violates any terms of the settlement.

“We have been seeing more cases like this,” said the advocacy group’s executive director, Caroline Peattie. “In addition, we’ve done investigative studies that show that people with housing vouchers often experience discrimination.”

Greenbrae Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.