Earlier this week, a lawsuit was filed against a New Orleans landlord accusing him of discrimination and sexual harassment. According to the suit, the landlord, Jerry Wayne Kelly Jr., only rented “units to young, attractive women, and even offering to exchange rent for sexual favors.” The complaint itself is more than 20-pages long include allegations that Cashauna Hill, an employee with the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, said are “very concerning.” The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center filed the lawsuit after complaints about Kelly surfaced on social media.
Earlier this week, a lawsuit was filed against a New Orleans landlord accusing him of discrimination and sexual harassment. According to the suit, the landlord, Jerry Wayne Kelly Jr., only rented “units to young, attractive women, and even offering to exchange rent for sexual favors.” Many of the young women were students attending Tulane University. The complaint itself is more than 20-pages long include allegations that Cashauna Hill, an employee with the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, said are “very concerning.” The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center filed the lawsuit after complaints about Kelly surfaced on social media.
What kind of alarming allegations are included in the lawsuit, though? For starters, the suit claims “Defendant Kelly created a hostile environment so severe that numerous tenants broke their leases and risked penalties rather than endure Kelly’s sexually harassing behavior.” According to the suit, Kelly regularly made “repeated demands for dates, offers to exchange rent for sexual favors, and his unauthorized entries into rental units while tenants were alone and vulnerable.”
Hill added, “Around the same time, we were also contacted by a former leasing agent who worked very closely with Mr. Kelly who reported she witnessed unlawful discrimination.” For example, the suit claims Kelly preferred to rent to “young, skinny, white girls.” Additionally, the former leasing agent said she “personally witnessed Defendant Kelly turn away more qualified men to rent to women.”
One applicant included in the suit claimed he experienced discrimination firsthand. In a statement about his experience, he said Kelly “didn’t try to get my, I guess, qualifications, and immediately said there are better-qualified candidates out there.”
Hill said she and the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center also witnessed the discrimination during its own independent investigation it conducted with “trained mystery shoppers.” Hill added, “In this case, the female testers we sent out were contacted by Mr. Kelly, and they did have access to the rental properties, whereas male testers received no callbacks and didn’t have access to the property.”
The investigation didn’t just verify the discrimination claims, though. According to Hill, during the investigation, Kelly “also made sexually suggestive comments about the female testers’ appearances and even implied that he would adjust his rental terms based on their physical appearances.”
The behavior displayed by Kelly is disturbing and a bigger deal than some may realize, especially considering the fact that cases of sexual harassment and housing are already under-reported. Hill said, “We know sexual harassment and housing is severely under-reported mostly because victims may not know where they can turn for assistance. Also, because the community does not have an understanding this kind of behavior may even be illegal.”
Kelly has yet to respond to the allegations or pending litigation.
Sources:
New Orleans landlord faces allegations of discrimination, sexual harassment
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