Mother of Two in Detroit Evicted After Ex-Boyfriend Violates a Personal Protection Order, Breaks into Her Home
DETROIT - In a letter sent to an apartment management company today, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Michigan urged a Detroit landlord to revise a policy that evicts all tenants whose "guests" create a disturbance or damage the property, including tenants who are victims of domestic violence.
The letter was written on behalf of Tanica Lewis, a mother of two who was
evicted from her home by Management Systems Incorporated shortly after an
ex-boyfriend broke into her home when she was away.
"By revising
this policy, Management Systems Incorporated can help break the cycle of women
being victimized twice - first by their abuser and then by their landlord," said
Emily Martin, Deputy Director of the ACLU Women's Rights Project.
"Landlords should encourage tenants who are victims of domestic abuse to take
the necessary steps to make themselves safe, rather than penalize them for the
actions of their abusers."
After Lewis ended a relationship with
Reuben Thomas in January 2006, he harassed and stalked her. On February 24,
2006, she obtained a personal protection order against him and informed the
management company of the order prohibiting Thomas from entering the complex. On
March 1, 2006, however, Thomas attempted to gain entry into her home by breaking
her windows and kicking in her door. When Lewis learned of the vandalism, she
immediately reported the incident to police, as well as to the residential
manager of the property. Thomas was ultimately convicted of breaking and
entering and ordered to pay restitution for the damaged
property.
Nonetheless, based on this incident Management Systems
Incorporated issued Lewis a 30-day notice of eviction on March 13, 2006, stating
that she had violated a portion of her lease that said she would be liable for
any damage resulting from lack of proper supervision of her guests. Lewis
subsequently moved from the property in compliance with the
notice.
According to the ACLU's letter, the eviction of Lewis
constitutes unlawful sex discrimination in direct violation of the federal Fair
Housing Act and the Michigan Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act.
According to the letter sent today, "The eviction of Ms. Lewis was
apparently based on gender stereotypes about battered women-namely, the
stereotype that if a woman is experiencing domestic violence, it is necessarily
her fault, because she must be inviting it or allowing it to happen. In
addition, because most domestic violence victims are women, those policies and
practices that discriminate against victims of domestic violence have an
unlawful disparate impact on women."
After Lewis was
evicted, she was forced to relocate to an apartment that cost approximately $200
more per month in rent. The new apartment was inconveniently located far from
her job and from a family member who had cared for Lewis' youngest daughter
during work hours. As a consequence, she was forced to make new and less
desirable childcare arrangements.
The ACLU is asking Management
Systems Incorporated to reimburse Lewis and her children for financial damages
incurred by the move and has requested that the company make an apartment
available to Lewis's family comparable in cost, amenities and location to the
unit from which they were evicted.
"Unfortunately, women, who are
too often victims of domestic violence, get caught up unwittingly in the efforts
of landlords to control crime," said Kary Moss, Executive Director of the ACLU
of Michigan. "We hope that our intervention will help lead to greater insight by
landlords into this very serious issue."
Over the years, the ACLU
has successfully challenged similar policies across the country without going to
trial. In another case in Michigan, the Ypsilanti Housing Commission (YHC)
agreed, after the ACLU intervened, to end a policy that led to the eviction of
Aaronica Warren, a domestic violence victim. The YHC had relied on a "one-strike
rule" in its lease that permitted it to evict tenants if there was any violence
in a tenant's apartment - even if the tenant was the victim of the
violence.
In addition, after the ACLU became involved, a federal
court in Vermont issued a first-of-its-kind ruling in Bouley v. Young-Sabourin
in 2005 holding that discriminating against victims of domestic violence
constitutes sex discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. The judge ruled that
when a landlord seeks to evict a tenant immediately after she has been the
victim of a domestic assault, the protection the Fair Housing Act provides
against sex discrimination is applicable.
Lewis is being
represented by Moss and Michael J. Steinberg of the ACLU of Michigan, and Martin
and Lenora M. Lapidus of the ACLU Women's Rights Project.
The
letter sent to Management Systems Incorporated is available online at: www.aclumich.org/tanicalewisletter.pdf