LA to pay $38M to settle federal housing lawsuit

Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $38.2 million to resolve allegations that it failed to meet federal accessibility requirements when it used federal grant funds for affordable housing, prosecutors announced Monday.

The settlement resolves a complaint the Justice Department filed in 2017 as part of a whistleblower action brought by a wheelchair user that accused the city of discriminating against people with disabilities by failing to make its affordable multifamily housing program accessible to those with various impairments, including mobility as well as visual and auditory impairments.

The federal prosecutors specifically alleged that Los Angeles failed to make the housing "structurally accessible" to people with disabilities, including creating slopes that were too steep and counters that were too high.

So-called thresholds also did not meet wheelchair access, the prosecutors said, while further accusing the city of failing to maintain a publicly available list of accessible units and their accessibility features while informing the Department of Housing and Urban Development that it complied with all grant requirements.

"This settlement shows that we will hold accountable jurisdictions receiving federal grant money to ensure they satisfy their obligations to make affordable housing accessible to people with disabilities," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in a statement .

"Our years spent litigating this case demonstrate the department's steadfast commitment to this effort."

The Department of Housing and Urban Development awards grants to cities, such as Los Angeles, to build and rehabilitate affordable housing, with federal law dictating that 5% of all units in specific federally assisted multifamily housing be accessible for those with mobility impairments, with another 2% to be for those with visual and auditory impairments.

The lawsuit was originally brought against the city by realtor Mei Ling, who uses a wheelchair, and the Fair Housing Council of San Fernando in 2011 that accused the city of falsely certifying that it was in compliance for the federal grants that amounted to nearly $1 billion on multiple occasions going back as far as six years prior to the filing.

In 2020, the federal government reached a $3.1 million settlement against CRA/LA, the successor of the Community Redevelopment Agency for Los Angeles, which was one of the defendants in the case.

Hydee Feldstein, who is an attorney for the city, told ABC News in an emailed statement that Los Angeles denies that it violated the False Claims Act, which permitted the private parties to sue the city on behalf of the federal government.

"Nonetheless, we are pleased to have reached this $38.2 million settlement, particularly in light of the federal government's initial claim that it was entitled to well over $1 billion in alleged damages," Feldstein said.