FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    CR
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1994                                  (202) 616-2765
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

                                     
       JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OBTAINS RECORD $425,000 SETTLEMENT AGAINST
           DETROIT AREA APARTMENT FOR DISCRIMINATING IN HOUSING

LARGEST SETTLEMENT UNDER NATIONWIDE FAIR HOUSING TESTING PROGRAM


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the largest rental housing
discrimination settlement ever reached by the Justice Department,
a suburban Detroit apartment complex today agreed to pay $425,000
for allegedly refusing to rent to African-Americans and for
discriminating against families with children.
     The case stems from a nationwide fair housing testing
program which to date has produced six suits in the Detroit
metropolitan area and 19 across the country.  The Detroit area
cases alone have resulted in settlements totaling over $1.175
million.       
     Under the testing program, trained pairs of black and white
"testers" posing as prospective tenants inquire about available
apartments.  Investigators then compare results to determine
whether blacks and whites were treated differently.
     Today's settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit,
resolves a suit filed in December 1992, alleging that the owners
and operators of the Kings Pointe Apartments in Warren, Michigan,
violated the Fair Housing Act.  The suit alleges that the 170
unit complex systematically refused to rent apartments to blacks
by telling blacks that vacant apartments were not available when
in fact they were.
     "To deny someone a home because of their race is to deny
someone their rightful share of the American Dream," said
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick.  
"This lawsuit should send a message to every housing provider
throughout the state and across the country that we can and will
prosecute those who discriminate in housing." 
     The testing, conducted in part by the Fair Housing Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, also revealed that the complex illegally
relegated families with children to one area of the complex and
treated them less favorably than other residents.  Since 1989,
federal law has prohibited discrimination against families with
children.
     Under the agreement, the owners and managers will pay
$312,500 in damages and civil penalties and $112,500 to develop a
program to further fair housing efforts in the Detroit area.  The
agreement also requires the defendants to institute a training
program on fair housing, monitor their employees to prevent
future discrimination, and advertise to locate possible victims. 
The Justice Department already has identified several families
with children and African Americans who were victims of the
discriminatory practices.
     Kings Pointe Apartments is managed by Bruce Polozker and his
wholly owned corporation, Standard Construction Company, which is
based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.  Polozker and Standard
Construction manage nine apartment complexes in the Detroit area,
with a total of over 1,500 units.
     Individuals who believe they have been victims of housing
discrimination at the Kings Pointe Apartments, or anywhere else
in the Detroit area should call the Fair Housing Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, at (313) 963-1274, or the Justice
Department at 202-514-4713.  Individuals who believe that they
may have been victims of housing discrimination anywhere else in
the nation should call the Justice Department or the Housing and
Urban Development's Fair Housing Hotline at 1-800-669-9777. 
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