Miami Herald
Tiesha Davis, a single, working mom of three, thought she had found a suitable apartment for her young family. But the home turned into a major stress test when her landlord told her he wasn't going to renew her lease.
The reason: She didn't provide her landlord with an ultrasound image of the child she was carrying. She signed her rental agreement on Sept. 26, 2017. She was four months pregnant at the time.
About four months later, on Jan. 11, Jose Galindo, the assistant property manager at Sorrento Rental Community in Miramar, a privately owned affordable housing complex, told Davis, 26, he wasn't going to renew her 12-month lease because she hadn't disclosed her pregnancy or provided an ultrasound photo, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on April 3. The project was financed, in part, by tax dollars.
The suit alleges that Galindo had to know Davis was pregnant when they first met in September.
Davis said she never hid her pregnancy. She is joined in the suit alongside plaintiffs Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE), a Florida not-for-profit corporation established in 1988 to fight against housing discrimination, and Akia Wiggins-Shabazz, a tester for HOPE who was told in March by a Sorrento leasing agent that she would need to provide an ultrasound of her unborn baby if she wanted to rent an apartment, according to the suit.
Wiggins-Shabazz and Davis are African American. HOPE assigned two testers posing as pregnant women to apply for a lease at Sorrento and a sister property, Monterra, in Cooper City in December — a white, Hispanic woman and an African American woman.
According to the suit, both were told there were not units available but were given a list of requirements they would have to meet to qualify as renters. Among the requirements: revealing how many people would be living in the apartment, child support information, proof of income, and presentation of driver's license and Social Security card.
The African American tester was asked about arrests and was told of situations that could result in a denial of tenancy — which included being a current homeowner, and having a history of foreclosures, short sales or evictions.
The Hispanic tester was not asked about arrests or told of the same denials of tenancy, according to the suit. There was nothing said about tests regarding pregnancy or unborn children.
The reason: She didn't provide her landlord with an ultrasound image of the child she was carrying. She signed her rental agreement on Sept. 26, 2017. She was four months pregnant at the time.
About four months later, on Jan. 11, Jose Galindo, the assistant property manager at Sorrento Rental Community in Miramar, a privately owned affordable housing complex, told Davis, 26, he wasn't going to renew her 12-month lease because she hadn't disclosed her pregnancy or provided an ultrasound photo, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on April 3. The project was financed, in part, by tax dollars.
The suit alleges that Galindo had to know Davis was pregnant when they first met in September.
"During such time Ms. Davis was noticeably pregnant, to the extent that Mr. Galindo insisted that she sit in the front seat of the golf cart when he was driving her through the property," the suit says. But in January, according to the complaint, Galindo asked Davis if she was pregnant, after monthly pest control visits and an inspection of her apartment turned up baby goods in her closet.Galindo, the suit alleges, stated that Davis should have let them know that she was pregnant in her application, that she had to check a box, and that she was required to show them a letter from her doctor and an ultrasound at the time of the tenancy."
Davis said she never hid her pregnancy. She is joined in the suit alongside plaintiffs Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE), a Florida not-for-profit corporation established in 1988 to fight against housing discrimination, and Akia Wiggins-Shabazz, a tester for HOPE who was told in March by a Sorrento leasing agent that she would need to provide an ultrasound of her unborn baby if she wanted to rent an apartment, according to the suit.
Wiggins-Shabazz and Davis are African American. HOPE assigned two testers posing as pregnant women to apply for a lease at Sorrento and a sister property, Monterra, in Cooper City in December — a white, Hispanic woman and an African American woman.
According to the suit, both were told there were not units available but were given a list of requirements they would have to meet to qualify as renters. Among the requirements: revealing how many people would be living in the apartment, child support information, proof of income, and presentation of driver's license and Social Security card.
The African American tester was asked about arrests and was told of situations that could result in a denial of tenancy — which included being a current homeowner, and having a history of foreclosures, short sales or evictions.
The Hispanic tester was not asked about arrests or told of the same denials of tenancy, according to the suit. There was nothing said about tests regarding pregnancy or unborn children.
