Holyoke — A lot of people don’t know this, but it is illegal to refuse housing or evict renters with a child under the age of 6 to avoid removing lead paint from the property.
Earlier this month, two landlords and two rental agents had to pay damages for refusing to rent to families with children under 6 or remove lead paint from their rentals units for renters ready to sign a lease.
With so much old housing stock in Western Massachusetts, this is a vast problem. But the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center (MFHC) is on the front lines, and upping their strategy to deal with the menace of lead paint, which the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) now says is not safe for children at even the lowest levels. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says low levels of exposure can cause learning difficulties and slowed growth, among other heath problems.
“This is just the start of our vigorous campaign to completely eliminate lead paint discrimination in Western Massachusetts,” said MGHC Legal Director, Ashley Grant.
“There are very few properties that have been de-leaded,” Grant noted.
Grant told The Edge this is a problem all over the state and this region, “particularly in the Berkshires,” where most houses were built before 1978, the year lead was banned as a paint additive for residential use. “Twenty to 25 percent of calls we get are about lead paint,” Grant said.
This makes a lot of housing unavailable — or dangerous — to families with young children.
“We’re redoubling our efforts to address lead paint discrimination because we’re seeing it on such a huge scale, including in the Berkshires,” Grant said.
But Grant also said that many landlords and renters simply don’t know the state’s anti-discrimination and lead paint law.
“Landlords misunderstand the law, and they just won’t rent,” she said. “But that violates the law.”
It also “affects family stability,” she added, noting that she had recently heard a family was evicted so he didn’t have to remove lead paint.
In one of these most recent settlements, for instance, MFHC, a nonprofit, had evidence that Amherst-based Valley Property Management “discouraged families with children” away from rentals by “suggesting the units would not be appropriate for children,” and used other strategies for avoiding renting to such families. According to MFHC, this rental company manages over 70 properties in the region.
Collectively, the settlements forced the four landlords and agents to pay $13,000 to remove lead paint from properties, to advertise properties as available to families with young children, and pay for an educational media campaign about lead paint discrimination. They also had to pay MFHC $6,500 and attend training about fair housing practices.
Grant says MFHC is also committed to an education campaign in the Berkshires.
Local developer and landlord Richard Stanley says he’s been on the right side of the law for the 27 years he’s been in business. He owns around 150 apartments in Great Barrington and Pittsfield.
“All my apartments have been de-leaded,” he said. “And many were de-leaded when I got them.”
Stanley further said the Rental Housing Association of Berkshire County, of which he is a founding member, educates landlords about lead-paint discrimination.
“It’s always been part of our agenda,” he said.