Braintree Company, AG's Office Settle Housing Discrimination Suit

BRAINTREE, MA — A management property company from Braintree has agreed to a $25,000 settlement following allegations the company discriminated against prospective tenants who were deaf or hard of hearing, Attorney General Maura Healey announced.

As part of the agreement, Peabody Properties Inc. will also train its employees and implement new policies to prevent future issues, Healey said in a statement.

Peabody Properties did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment. We will update this story if we hear back.

According to Healey, the settlement came from allegations that Peabody Properties violated the state's fair housing and consumer protection laws when employees at Pynchon/Edgewater, a 612-unit complex in Springfield, refused providing deaf applicants with an American Sign Language interpreter upon request.

The Attorney General's Office said the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center conducted two audits of the housing market in western Massachusetts in 2016 and 2018 after receiving reports that people who were deaf or hard of hearing were having a hard time finding a place to live.

Healey's office in a statement said the case was part of an effort to address widespread housing discrimination that disproportionately affects people of color, the disabled and low income residents. During both audits, staff at Pynchon/Edgewater told testers the company did not provide sign language interpreters to deaf prospective tenants who requested one.

The center conducted a third audit in February 2019 and used testers to compare the experience of a deaf applicant and one without hearing impairment. According to the Attorney General's Office, the tester with hearing was treated respectfully and encouraged to apply for housing. In contrast, the office staff told the deaf tester there was no available housing, the waiting list was a year-long and hung up, according to Healey. When the tester called back, office staff aid ASL interpreters were only available to current tenants.

"People with disabilities often face serious barriers to accessing safe and affordable housing, and refusal to provide reasonable accommodations to those in need further exacerbates this problem," Healey said in a statement. "This company wouldn't even engage with deaf tenants who were seeking housing — let alone provide them with the assistance they needed to complete a rental application. My office is committed to ensuring fair and equal access to housing for all Massachusetts residents."