A complaint has been filed against a Kentucky apartment complex alleging it discriminated against Black potential tenants with federal Section 8 housing vouchers, discouraging them from applying to live there.

The Terraces at Forest Springs is managed by the St. Louis-based Michelson Realty Company and, according to The Louisville Courier-Journal, it twice discouraged Black potential renters with the vouchers from applying to the complex while encouraging white potential renters who also had the vouchers. 

A lawsuit has been filed against a Kentucky apartment complex, The Terraces at Forest Springs, alleging its staffers discriminated against Black potential tenants. (Photo: AdobeStock.com)

The realty company, per the report, has not replied to requests for comment but has denied the claims. A hearing about the allegations will soon take place before a representative from the office of Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s attorney general. 

The complaint against Michelson Realty, filed by the Lexington Fair Housing Council, alleges that LFHC testers contacted the complex in 2021 on two occasions, and both times the Black woman was told it did not accept Section 8 while the other tester, a white man, was told it did. 

Last year, the Louisville Metro Council added new protections to its fair housing ordinance to protect residents from discrimination based on source of income, including the Section 8 vouchers. However, area renters and housing advocates say the bias still continues. 

One Louisville resident, John Rice, told The Courier-Journal in an earlier report that some property managers have told him his credit score is too low, while others have approved his application but then claimed the unit was no longer available. He said he has exhausted his savings on application fees. 

The Louisville Housing Authority has approved 11,988 Section 8 vouchers across several programs, and 74% of the recipients are Black and 24% white. The majority of the vouchers are used in the city’s West End neighborhood, which has long suffered from economic disinvestment and discrimination. There are no vouchers in use in the city’s wealthier East End. 

“What’s missing in our community is support for renters to help them navigate fair housing issues and housing access issues,” housing justice advocate Celine Mutuyemariya told The Courier-Journal in March, noting she believed “the city should think more critically about not only adding protections, but how do we make sure that people are aware of those protections and can navigate those issues with support?”

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