Female landord refuses to rent to single mother because she doesn’t have a man to shovel snow
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has accused a West Salem landlord of violating the Fair Housing Act for refusing to rent to a single mother because she didn’t have a man ‘to shovel the snow.’
According to the charge against Dovenberg Investments, the unnamed woman answered an Internet ad in October 2010 for a two-bedroom home on a cattle farm in the Irish Coulee area. When asked how many people would be living there, she answered just herself and her child.
Darlene Dovenberg said she wouldn’t rent to the woman because she didn’t have a man to help, according to the charge. Dovenberg later rented the house to two men.
The woman told housing authorities she wanted to live in the house because it was cheaper than her current rent, closer to her job in La Crosse and in a school district where her disabled son would have better services.
During the HUD investigation, Dovenberg defended her actions, noting the house was in a hollow where winters are ‘brutal’ and a single mother couldn’t handle the seclusion and snow removal. She said it was ‘just common sense’ and asked the investigator if he would allow his daughter to live alone with a child a mile and a half from neighbors.
Full article here
The article goes on to note that this type of discrimination is prohibited by the Fair Housing act, but the landlord doesn’t seem to care…
‘If she thinks I discriminated against her, I absolutely did,’ Dovenberg said, according to the complaint.
If found guilty of discrimination the landlord faces a fine up to $16 000, plus damages and attorneys fees.
Which may be A-ok with her, as she seems to have a particular vendetta against single mothers…
Dovenberg, who manages six rental properties, told housing authorities she never rents to single mothers, especially not in the country, and had no plans to change. She went on to complain that single mothers are part of the country’s financial problems and were not a problem in the 1960s and 70s.
Sorry to burst your bubble darling, but a LOT changes in 40-50 years. Take a look around. This ain’t the 60s anymore. Of course there were single mothers in the 1960s, but far fewer than today. In the 60s, single mothers often found themselves thrust into a shotgun wedding and stuck in a loveless marriage.
Also, I think it’s completely ridiculous to blame single mothers, of all people, for the economic woes of the United States. Unless there are a lot of single mothers in congress or on Wall Street, that’s an absolutely preposterous thing to say.
The logic of this woman baffles me.