MHB Announces Settlement of Nationwide Housing Discrimination Case Against Seattle Based Realty Company, Redfin
Posted by MHB Admin
April 29, 2022. MHB attorney Jeffrey L. Taren announced the settlement today of a fair housing lawsuit brought against the nationwide realtor Redfin that will expand housing opportunities for consumers of color in major cities throughout the United States. MHB, along with the New York law firm of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady & Mazel, LLP, representing the National Fair Housing Alliance and 9 Fair Housing Centers throughout the country, brought disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act alleging that Redfin used home price thresholds that denied their services to persons seeking to sell or buy lower priced homes. This effectively redlined Black and Hispanic communities in major metropolitan areas and deprived these home seekers from using Redfin’s services.
The settlement eliminates this discriminatory housing practice. In addition, the agreement mandates the recruitment of minority real estate agents, requires the development and implementation of a fair housing training program for thousands of Redfin agents and their partner agents and requires extensive reporting on compliance issues to NFHA. Finally, Redfin is paying $4,000,000 to the Plaintiffs, $1,000,000 of which will be used to fund programs devoted to expanding homeownership opportunities, such as down-payment assistance programs, financial literacy workshops and credit counseling, and first-time homebuyer counseling programs.