The Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council today filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development alleging housing discrimination by Bank of America.
The complaint was filed in cooperation with Chicago and Indianapolis housing organizations with the help of the National Fair Housing Alliance.
According to MMFHC, Bank of America has failed to maintain and market properties in Milwaukee’s African-American and Latino neighborhoods.
The Fair Housing Council evaluated 45 Bank of America Real Estate Owned properties, 39 of them in African-American neighborhoods, nine in non-white neighborhoods and six in white neighborhoods, said William Tisdale, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council. Banks are required by law to maintain foreclosed properties they own.
The MMFHC findings showed REO properties in communities of color were twice as likely as REOs in white communities to have substantial amounts of trash on the property. Also, more than a quarter of REOs in communities of color had dead grass on 10 to 50 percent of the lawn, while none of the properties in white communities had the same problem.
REOs in communities of colors also had more accumulated mail, broken or hanging gutters, damaged fences and damaged windows than those in white communities.
