The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) and an Indianapolis resident have filed a class action complaint against two private equity landlords Progress Residential and Tricon Residential, alleging discrimination in tenant-screening policies, according to a release.
The complaint alleges discriminatory practices perpetuated by Progress and Tricon against Black renters through arbitrary criminal-history policies. The lawsuit alleges the companies enforce blanket bans on certain justice-involved applicants without assessing individual circumstances, disproportionately affecting Black applicants who are systematically overrepresented in criminal- justice statistics.
NBC news reports the new litigation centers on Tricon Residential, a California-based landlord recently acquired by the Blackstone Group of New York City, one of the country’s more prestigious private-equity firms, and Progress Residential, a landlord owned by Pretium Partners, which is overseen by Don Mullen, a former Goldman Sachs executive.
The suits were brought by the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, an advocacy group serving residents of 24 counties in the state. Both Tricon and Progress denied tenant applications based on inaccurate information generated by a third-party screening service, the lawsuits say, and they allege that neither landlord verified the information.
A spokesman for Tricon Residential said in a statement: “Tricon adheres to all fair-housing laws and believes the allegations in this suit are baseless.” The events detailed in the lawsuit occurred before Blackstone purchased the company; a Blackstone spokesman declined to comment. A Progress Residential representative provided this statement: “As a leading professional property manager, we are committed to promoting a fair and equitable screening process for all applicants. Although we do not comment on pending litigation, we take these allegations seriously and are currently reviewing the claims made in the lawsuit.”
Private-equity landlords have bought up large swaths of housing across the country in recent years, acquiring both single-family homes and apartment complexes. Such acquisitions have diminished the supply of affordable starter properties in many communities, research shows. Together, Tricon and Progress own at least 130,000 single-family homes throughout the country, the lawsuit says.
