Highland Living LLC’s Minimum-Income Policies Allegedly Discriminated Against Tenants Who Receive Government Rental Assistance

TRENTON – Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division on Civil Rights (DCR) today announced that DCR has issued a Finding of Probable Cause against Highland Living LLC, the owner of an apartment complex in Highland Park, and its leasing agent for allegedly violating the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) by imposing unlawful minimum-income requirements that discriminated against recipients of government assistance.

The LAD prohibits discrimination in housing based on the source of lawful income that a prospective renter would use to pay rent.  In the Finding of Probable Cause announced today, DCR has alleged that Highland Living and its leasing agent discriminated against a complainant who wished to use federal Section 8 housing assistance to rent an apartment unit in the Highland Living Apartments in Highland Park.

As the Finding of Probable Cause explains, Highland Living claimed that it denied the complainant’s application because the complainant’s income did not meet Highland Living’s minimum-income requirement, which required complainant to show a monthly income that was two times the monthly rent. DCR found that the evidence supported a reasonable ground of suspicion that this minimum-income requirement had an unlawful disparate impact on Section 8 voucher recipients because Highland Living applied the minimum-income requirement in a way that did not appropriately credit the fact that the federal government would be paying most of the complainant’s monthly rent through Section 8.

“New Jersey’s strong civil rights laws protect every resident’s right to obtain safe, affordable housing without facing discrimination. Now more than ever, it’s imperative that we hold firm on our commitment to safeguard that right,” said Attorney General Platkin. “The enforcement actions announced today reflect our continued commitment to ensuring that no one is denied the chance to obtain an affordable place to live because of unlawful housing discrimination.”

“For many New Jerseyans, rental assistance programs like Section 8 open critical pathways to finding affordable housing. But when housing providers apply minimum-income requirements to renters who receive rental assistance and fail to properly account for that rental assistance, their policies have the effect of denying New Jerseyans the chance to find safe, stable housing,” said Yolanda N. Melville, Director of the Division on Civil Rights. “Our civil rights laws prohibit discrimination against renters who receive government rental assistance, and we will continue our work to enforce this prohibition and combat unlawful minimum-income requirements that harm our residents.”

As the Finding of Probable Cause announced today explains, the evidence supports a reasonable ground of suspicion that Highland Living’s minimum-income requirement has a disparate impact on Section 8 recipients. To qualify for a Section 8 voucher, renters generally must have very low incomes. As a result, many families who qualify for Section 8 do not meet minimum-income requirements like the one established by Highland Living.

DCR’s investigation found that the complainant did not satisfy Highland Living’s minimum-income requirement because the complainant’s average monthly after-tax income of $1,232 was well below the amount required to satisfy the two-times-the-rent requirement for the unit in question, which was $3,800 (or twice the monthly rent of $1,900 per month). DCR found that none of the Section 8 applicants for the Highland Living Apartments between 2022 and 2024 were able to satisfy Highland Living’s minimum-income requirements.

DCR’s investigation also found that the evidence also supported the conclusion Highland Living’s minimum-income policy was not necessary to achieve a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest, and that there were other less discriminatory alternatives that serve Highland Living’s interest. Under the Section 8 program, most Section 8 voucher recipients generally pay no more than 30 percent of their adjusted monthly family income for rent. Moreover, if a voucher-holder’s income decreases, the amount of assistance provided through the Section 8 program will increase to offset the decrease. As the Finding of Probable Cause explains, for that reason, minimum-income requirements are generally not necessary to ensure that Section 8 recipients will pay the rent.

DCR’s investigation further found that while Highland Living maintained a practice of crediting the value of the complainant’s Section 8 voucher as income, that approach to calculating income did not eliminate the unlawful disparate impact of Highland Living’s minimum-income requirement. The Finding of Probable Cause explains that there were less discriminatory alternatives that could have served Highland Living’s interest in selecting tenants who will pay their rent, including applying its minimum-income requirement only to the portion of rent not covered by government rental assistance.

The Finding of Probable Cause announced today does not represent a final adjudication on the merits of a case. Instead, it means DCR has concluded its preliminary investigation and determined there is sufficient evidence to support a reasonable suspicion the LAD has been violated.  Once DCR issues a Finding of Probable Cause, the case will go to conciliation, where the parties will have the opportunity to negotiate a voluntary resolution. If no voluntary resolution is reached, DCR will appoint a Deputy Attorney General to prosecute the case either in the Office of Administrative Law or in court.

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The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights enforces the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, the New Jersey Family Leave Act, and the Fair Chance in Housing Act, and works to prevent, eliminate, and remedy discrimination and bias-based harassment in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation throughout New Jersey.

To find out more information or to file a complaint, go to www.njcivilrights.gov.

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