The Arkansas Fair Housing Commission has ruled there is sufficient evidence to show The Waterford Apartment Homes in Little Rock discriminated against Hispanic applicants.

The National Fair Housing Alliance announced the finding in a Monday news release that detailed the alliance's 2013 undercover investigation that led to it filing a complaint in October against Bailey Properties, which now operates under the name BSR Trust LLC and runs the apartment complex.

The state housing commission substantiated the complaint in an Aug. 5 determination report in which Director Carol Johnson wrote that BSR Trust violated the Fair Housing Act by exercising discriminatory refusal to rent and to negotiate based on national origin.

The property management company's attorney, Harry Hamlin with Mitchell Williams Law Firm in Little Rock, said Monday that his clients disagree with the findings and are considering how to respond.

In spring 2013, the National Fair Housing Alliance conducted a test in which it hired six people to call Waterford Apartment Homes at 701 Green Mountain Drive and request that an application be emailed to them. Three of the testers were white, and three were Hispanic with Spanish accents. The Hispanic testers were slightly more qualified to rent -- they had higher incomes and a longer job history.

All three white testers received an email the day they called. Two of the Hispanic testers never heard back from the apartment staff, and the third received a response 12 days later.

"We were stunned by the consistent pattern of discrimination our investigation uncovered," said Shanna Smith, president and chief executive officer of the National Fair Housing Alliance. "This determination by the [commission] confirms the need for justice, and we urge Bailey Properties to come forward and change their practices so this never happens again."

Hamlin said by phone Monday that he has reviewed the alliance's testing and disagrees with the housing commission's findings.

"We've got a diverse population there at Waterford, and our leasing office employees are very diverse," Hamlin said. "None of the testing was done by anyone in person, and our system is not set up to really deal with folks by email."

He said the six testers interacted with all three of the leasing agents employed at the time, and the inconsistency with email responses was due to the way each agent worked -- some being more diligent than others. Prospective tenants are required to apply in person, so it isn't often that leasing agents are working on applications through email, Hamlin said.

"We went through each instance specifically, looked at which employee was involved and looked at their emails. We tried to figure out what happened and satisfied ourselves that there wasn't anything intentionally happening there," he said.

BSR Trust also owns and manages Bowman Heights Apartments in Little Rock, and Indian Hills Apartments and Overbrook Apartments in North Little Rock. In all, the company manages more than 100 properties in seven states.

The National Fair Housing Alliance can file a civil action against the property management company in state or federal court within two years.

The Arkansas Fair Housing Commission is a quasi-judicial, regulatory, enforcement agency that works in conjunction with the federal government to enforce fair housing rules and regulations, according to its website. After investigating a complaint, it works with both parties to facilitate a settlement, but it issues a cause finding report when those efforts don't result in an agreement, such as in this case with BSR Trust.

BSR Trust has the option of resolving the matter with the national alliance to avoid litigation, the alliance's Director of Enforcement and Investigations Morgan Williams said.

Metro on 08/26/2014