Wells Fargo Accused of Housing Discrimination
From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) filed [an administrative] complaint Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The group said it looked at [more than 1,000] foreclosed homes in several metro areas and found that they were more likely to be rundown and poorly marketed in minority neighborhoods than in white ones.
Complaints range from failing to cut grass to allowing boarded up homes to decay and failing to put up “For Sale” signs.
NFHA said Wells Fargo is violating the federal Fair Housing Act, which requires banks and investors to maintain and market homes without regard to race or ethnicity. . . .
Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, disputed the complaint generally and said it didn’t have enough information to respond to specific cases. . . .
Shanna Smith, president of NFHA, said she hopes HUD will “call the parties together try to work this out and begin an investigation,” Smith said. “Filing this complaint with HUD will light a fire. I am sorry that this is what we have to do to get their attention.”
Smith said her organization looked at eight lenders, adding Wells Fargo was the most egregious offender and is the only bank named in the complaint. She did not rule out complaints against others.
Wells Fargo services one out of every six home loans in the United States.
Washington-based NFHA, which describes itself as “the only national organization dedicated solely to ending discrimination in housing,” said it looked at more than 1,000 homes in Baltimore; Dallas; Dayton, Ohio; Miami and Fort Lauderdale; Oakland; Philadelphia; Washington; and Atlanta.
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Thoughts?