FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18 1997                            (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
                                 
    DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH NEW JERSEY
 APARTMENT COMPLEX AND FILES SUIT AGAINST ANOTHER FOR ALLEGEDLY
            DISCRIMINATING AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS
     
     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The owners and managers of one of New
Jersey's largest private apartment complexes agreed to pay nearly
$1 million in damages and penalties for allegedly discriminating
against African Americans under an agreement reached today with
the Justice Department.

     The Department also announced today that it filed suit
against another New Jersey complex for discriminating against
African Americans.  
 
     The settlement, filed together with a complaint in U.S.
District Court in Newark, is the first in New Jersey stemming
from the Justice Department's fair housing testing program. Under
the program, trained teams of African American and white testers
posing as prospective tenants inquire about the availability of
rental units.  By comparing the experiences of the testers,
investigators discover whether African Americans were treated
less favorably than whites.

     "Housing discrimination, though often subtle, inflicts deep
wounds on its victims and serves to segregate our society," said
Isabelle Katz Pinzler, Acting Assistant Attorney General for
Civil Rights.

     Today's settlement resolves allegations by the Justice
Department that Chandler Associates and the owners and managers
of Pleasant View Gardens, a 1142-unit complex in Piscataway,
unfairly discouraged African Americans from obtaining apartments.

     Under the agreement Chandler Associates will:

      *    not discriminate against African Americans in the 
           rental of units at Pleasant View Gardens or at the 1200
           units in their other New Jersey apartment complexes,
           including The Towers in Passaic, Lakeview Apartments in
           Leonia, Wayne Village Apartments in Wayne, Oak Manor
           Apartments in Ridgewood, Leland Gardens Apartments in
           Plainfield, East Hill Gardens Apartments in Tenafly,
           Windsor Realty Company in Wood-Ridge, and Pleasure Bay
           Apartments in Long Branch;

     *     pay $750,000 in damages to victims of the discrimination
           and $200,000 in civil penalties to the U.S. Treasury
            -- the largest civil penalty paid in a housing
           discrimination case;

     *     contribute $550,000 to a project to further fair  housing;

     *     provide training to all rental agents and managers at
           all of the above-named New Jersey complexes to prevent
           discriminatory practices; and,

     *     implement specific fair housing guidelines for
           advertising available units and for informing all
           prospective tenants of available units and any rent
           specials.

     According to the Justice Department, rental agents allegedly
told African Americans that no apartments were available while
telling whites, within hours, that apartments were in fact
available.  The Department also had alleged that agents told
whites of special move-in and rent discounts but failed to inform
African Americans of these discounts.

     "Seemingly friendly rental agents who don't tell people of
one race about the availability of apartments are engaging in
housing discrimination, plain and simple," said Pinzler.

     Pinzler noted that the size of this settlement reflects the
continued importance of the Justice Department's fair housing
testing program. "We will continue to use our testing program to
detect and weed out those who engage in this type of
discrimination."

     The Justice Department was assisted in its testing by the
Northern New Jersey Fair Housing Council, a fair housing group
based in Hackensack.

     In the second case, also filed in U.S. District Court in
Newark, the Justice Department alleged that the owner, Robert M.
Ernstoff, and the rental agents of Westfield Manor Apartments
discriminated against prospective African American tenants.  The
complaint alleges that African Americans looking to rent
apartments at the 120-unit complex in Westfield were falsely told
that apartments were unavailable, when in fact they were.


     The Department's complaint seeks injunctive relief,
compensatory and punitive damages for victims of the
discriminatory practices, and civil penalties.

     In addition to these New Jersey cases, the Department of
Justice's testing program has produced 36 suits in Ohio,
Michigan, California, Illinois, South Dakota, Missouri, Indiana,
Alabama, Virginia and Florida.  The program has resulted in more
than $6.5 million in damage awards.

     Individuals who believe that they may have been the victims
of housing discrimination at any of these complexes should call 
the Housing Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice
Department at 1-800-896-7743.
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