FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    CR
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1994                                   (202) 616-2765
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888


      WISCONSIN RENTAL COMPANY TO PAY LARGEST HOUSING DISCRIMINATION
          AWARD IN THE STATE UNDER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SETTLEMENT


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Wisconsin-based rental company that
refused to offer apartments to immigrants from Southeast Asia,
African Americans and families with children on the same grounds
as whites will pay $218,000 under an agreement reached today with
the U.S. Justice Department.  The housing discrimination
settlement is believed to be the largest in the state of
Wisconsin.
     The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee,
resolves a suit filed by the Justice Department in May of 1992
alleging that Security Management Company, Inc. violated the
federal Fair Housing Act.  The suit asserted that the company,
which operates over 3500 rental units throughout Wisconsin,
turned away persons of Hmong origin who have immigrated over the
past ten years from various parts of Southeast Asia to this
country, as well as African Americans.  
     Wisconsin is one of several states with large Hmong
populations.
     Under the settlement, the company will pay $153,000 in
damages to the victims of discrimination, $10,000 each to two
Lao/Hmong community associations and $45,000 in civil penalties
to the U.S. treasury.  It also will institute a fair housing
training program, conduct tests of its own rental managers for
possible fair housing violations, and report to the Justice
Department for three years on its compliance record.
     "To discriminate against a person because they are a recent
immigrant to this country or because they are a minority is to
deny that person their rightful share of the American Dream,"
said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L.
Patrick.  "Today's settlement sends a clear message to housing
providers that we will not tolerate the trampling of individuals'
rights."
     The lawsuit stemmed from evidence gathered by two private
Wisconsin fair housing councils, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair
Housing Council and the Fair Housing Council of the Fox Valley,
which conducted random tests at complexes operated by the
company.  
     Under the tests, trained pairs of "testers" posing as
prospective tenants inquired about available rental units at
complexes in Appleton, Oshkosh, and the Milwaukee area.  While
white testers were generally told about the availability of
apartments, Hmong and black testers were told that no apartments
were available, were shown fewer apartments, or were otherwise
discouraged from seeking housing.
     The suit also charged that the company discriminated against
families with children after the testers discovered that the
families were discouraged from living on certain floors or
buildings or discouraged from renting at some complexes.  Since
1989, federal law has prohibited discrimination against families
with children.
     The Justice Department is currently conducting similar tests
in over a dozen cities across the country to detect possible
housing discrimination.  To date, the tests have produced 19
federal lawsuits in five states, resulting in settlements
totalling close to $1.5 million.
     Individuals who believe they may have been the victims of
housing discrimination anywhere in the United States should call
either the Housing Section of the Civil Rights Division at the
Department at 202-514-4713 or the Department of Housing and Urban
Development's Fair Housing Hotline at 1-800-669-9777.
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