State agency seeks role of feds in fighting bias

By Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2008 | 2 a.m.

For the second time since 2005, the state agency that deals with discrimination on the job is asking Nevada’s Legislature for the legal power to confront discrimination in housing.

The Nevada Equal Rights Commission has submitted a bill draft for the January legislative session that would make state law on the matter equivalent to its federal counterpart. If it’s approved, Nevada would finally join the ranks of 37 states and the District of Columbia in having an on-the-ground agency authorized to go to court and levy fines against landlords found guilty of discrimination.

Dennis Perea, administrator of the commission, said the bill is especially timely because discrimination in general tends to increase in times of scarcity. He noted that his agency has seen employment complaints, for example, rise 14 percent in the past year.

“If you want to see whether someone has a bias, wait until times are tough,” he said.

The proposed bill names the state attorney general as the one to go to bat for a complainant if a case goes to court, and gives the equal rights commission and state courts the ability to fine landlords or owners.

The commission could fine first-time violators up to $16,000, with multiple violations drawing fines up to $65,000. Courts could order fines of up to $55,000 for first-timers and fines of up to $100,00 for repeat offenders.

Even though the Las Vegas Valley long ago entered the ranks of the nation’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, to obtain such results now, tenants have to file complaints alleging housing discrimination with the federal Housing and Urban Development Department office in San Francisco.

They can also go to the commission, but the principal remedy Perea’s agency can offer under current law is mediation between the parties.

For this reason, complainants have long preferred the San Francisco HUD office. In the past three years alone, the annual tally of complaints to HUD from the Las Vegas area has gone from 37 to 58. Perea said his agency received fewer than a dozen housing complaints last year.

Nevada is one of only 13 states with no local or state agency for housing discrimination, so if the proposed changes are made, the state would be “catching up” with most of the rest of the country — including neighbors Arizona, Utah and California.

The proposed legislation is “the right thing to do,” Perea said, adding that handling complaints out of state costs more.

The state commission attempted to fortify its ability to confront housing discrimination two legislative sessions ago, but lawmakers had concerns about the state being held liable for legal fees in losing lawsuits, Perea said. This time, the proposed bill aims to reduce the state’s risk of incurring costs, he added.

Kenneth Carroll, director of the fair housing assistance program division at HUD, said turnover at agencies such as the Nevada Equal Rights Commission also plays a role in a state’s push to pass a law equivalent to federal law. “The agency can lose momentum,” he said.

Perea, the commission’s third administrator since 2005, concurred.

If the bill becomes law, the state would sign an agreement with HUD requiring the federal agency to pay the state from $2,400 to $2,900 per case. The commission would hire an additional investigator, upping its total to 11. Also, HUD would offer free training on housing discrimination to commission investigators.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, is interested in the issue and said the timing of the current bill is “critical,” noting the number of former homeowners being forced to seek rental housing because of the foreclosure crisis.

The speaker of the Assembly, Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, has followed the issue for more than a decade. Though unavailable for comment for this story, in 2005 she said she favored having the commission handle housing complaints with the federal funding, as long as it did so efficiently.

Carroll called the Fair Housing Act, the federal law after which the state bill draft is patterned, “a pretty brilliantly crafted piece of legislation.”

“If a state or locality drafts a piece of legislation equivalent to the act, it substantially improves the response to housing discrimination.”