DFEH Settles Racial and Familial Status Housing Discrimination Case With Riverside Mobile Home Park Owners

The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has reached a $125,000 settlement with owners of a Riverside mobile home park who allegedly hurled racial epithets at tenants’ children and refused to allow them to play in common areas of the park.

The DFEH’s complaint alleged that the Mobile Park’s property manager harassed children at the park by taking pictures of them and by calling them, “Mexican bastards.” They also issued a rule to the tenants stating that children would only be allowed to play in their own yards and not in the asphalt areas of the park.

“No housing provider may subject its tenants to harassment or discrimination on the basis of national origin, race, or familial status,” said Kevin Kish, Director of the DFEH. “This settlement sends the message that all housing providers must refrain from issuing discriminatory rules and from harassing tenants based on any discriminatory basis.”

Owners of the mobile home park agreed to pay $125,000 to the Riverside Fair Housing Counsel and to five Hispanic tenants who filed the complaint. They also agreed to undergo three years’ of annual fair housing training, revise all housing rules that discriminate against Hispanic tenants and residents with children, and to post DFEH’s housing discrimination rights notices in Spanish and English.

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) is the state agency charged with enforcing California’s civil rights laws. CRD’s mission is to protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and state-funded programs and activities, and from hate violence and human trafficking. For more information, visit calcivilrights.ca.gov.

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