Sacramento landlords to pay state settlement for alleged Section 8 discrimination
Sacramento landlords are paying a $42,500 settlement after a state department sued them for allegedly discriminating against a Section 8 tenant.
The California Civil Rights Department sued Carlos and Linda Torres in 2022 for allegedly discriminating against a tenant based on her race, disability and use of a Housing Choice Voucher, formerly known as Section 8, the department said in a news release Wednesday. The landlords then allegedly retaliated against and harassed the tenant when she attempted to assert her rights.
The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, which administers the vouchers, told the tenant in 2022 she did not need to pay the landlords $150 a month for utilities because the utilities were included in the money the landlords received with the Section 8 voucher, according to the news release. When she told the landlords she wouldn’t be paying utilities anymore, they allegedly made “racial slurs, derogatory remarks and unlawful threats of eviction.”
The landlords eventually locked the tenant out of the home, in North Sacramento’s Hagginwood neighborhood, and did not let her back in to get her medical equipment, family heirlooms and photographs, the news release said.
An attorney for Carlos and Linda Torres, Erika L. LaMarch, declined comment for this story on behalf of her clients.
Rishi Khalsa, a Civil Rights Department spokesperson, said the department is not aware of additional rental properties managed by the Torreses and that the Hagginwood property “is currently off the rental market.” The Torreses have rented out the house, which is across the street from their primary residence, for at least 10 years, he said.
The $42,500 will go to the tenant and also to the state’s legal costs, the release said. In addition, the landlords will take training on state civil rights protections related to housing, include language in any future rental ads to make clear Section 8 recipients are welcome to apply, and refrain from discrimination and harassment.
The state passed Senate Bill 329 in 2019, barring landlords from posting ads that said “no Section 8.” However after the bill had gone into effect, dozens of online advertisements for Sacramento apartments still contained that language, a Sacramento Bee investigation found. Following that investigation, the California Civil Rights Department chose Sacramento as the first city in the state in which to focus enforcement efforts.
Since then, the department has reached more than 250 settlements across the state, the release said.
“No matter the circumstances, racial slurs and retaliation are unacceptable,” said Civil Rights Department Director Kevin Kish. “Despite living at the property for years, the tenant in this case was still threatened and harassed simply for speaking out about her rights. Plain and simple: Landlords cannot discriminate against people for using rental assistance.”
Demand for Section 8 vouchers in Sacramento has exploded. As of 2023, 51,000 Sacramentans were on a waiting list for 13,000 Section 8 housing vouchers. In the last two decades, while the number of homeless people on the streets in Sacramento more than quadrupled, the federal government has given Sacramento only an additional 1,000 vouchers.
Even when the ads say they accept Section 8, voucher holders have said they still have a very hard time finding Sacramento landlords to accept them.
Residents can report housing discrimination online at calcivilrights.ca.gov/complaintprocess.
