Bristol Township’s Asset Management Specialists Inc. (AMS) is accused of violating federal fair housing laws.
The company was hired to maintain homes foreclosed by housing lender Fannie Mae. According to media reports, properties in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods were neglected. The properties were in the cities of Atlanta, Grand Rapids, Mich., and San Diego.
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Metro Fair Housing Services Inc. and the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan announced Thursday at a press conference that they are filing a formal complaint about the alleged discrimination with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
From an article posted on MLive.com:
In one predominately black neighborhood they studied in Grand Rapids, none of the 10 Fannie Mae-foreclosed homes were free from deficiencies, Haynes said. Five of the homes had three or more maintenance problems. Deficiencies were described as broken windows or doors, accumulated trash or debris, overgrown grass or leaves, broken or missing steps or handrails and holes in the structure.
Of the 19 homes in white neighborhoods, nine had no deficiencies while eight had only one deficiency. Two of the homes had three or four deficiencies.
AMS is under contract to prevent the type of deficiencies they found, Shanna Smith, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, told the website.
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“Before the filing of this complaint, NFHA had never contacted us to discuss the issues raised by their internal investigation. We would have welcomed the opportunity to have addressed their concerns earlier,” a statement from AMS read.
The company said they regularly inspect properties under our care, adding many of their clients require independent inspectors to spot check their properties.
