Dive Brief:

• The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has filed a lawsuit against Fort Washington, Pennsylvania-based multifamily owner and operator Altman Management Co. and two ownership companies on behalf of a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient who alleges she was barred from renting an Altman-owned apartment due to her immigration status. 
• When Khrysta De Guzman and her fiance, a U.S. citizen, applied to rent a unit at Autumn Ridge Apartments in Blackwood, New Jersey, Altman rejected their application because De Guzman did not supply a permanent resident card or visa, according to the lawsuit. An application to Inverness Apartments in Westville, New Jersey, also operated by Altman, was rejected for the same reason, according to court documents.
• The class action suit claims that the apartments’ refusal to consider De Guzman is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which outlaws discrimination based on “alienage or lack of U.S. citizenship,” according to a press release from MALDEF. The plaintiff includes De Guzman and “all others similarly situated.”

Dive Insight:

Altman Management Co., which operates both properties named in the suit, did not respond to a request for comment from Multifamily Dive. It manages approximately 80 apartment buildings across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, according to the company website. 

Autumn Ridge Apartments is owned by HP Altman Autumn Ridge LLC, which shares an address with Altman Management Co. The Inverness Apartments are owned by Inverness Apartments LLC, located in Brooklyn, New York. The LLC did not respond to an emailed request for comment, and Multifamily Dive could not locate a phone number for the LLC.

The DACA program is designed to provide people who came to the U.S. as children with a legal means to remain and work in the country. Current law only allows recipients to obtain permanent residency cards under certain conditions, one of which is marriage to a U.S. citizen. Recipients can also acquire an H-1B work visa under specific circumstances through their country of origin, according to the National Immigration Forum. 

Neither document is required or provided by the DACA program. De Guzman had an employment authorization card that Altman did not accept, according to the lawsuit.

“Plaintiff De Guzman and class members have the right to make and enforce contracts in the United States and are entitled to the full and equal benefits of the law,” the lawsuit reads. “[They] request that the court issue a permanent injunction ordering defendants to alter their housing policies and practices to prevent future discrimination.”

De Guzman arrived in the United States from Guatemala at the age of seven in 2006. She has been a DACA recipient since 2016, and currently works as a warehouse associate while attending college. She had never been denied rental housing due to her immigration status before this incident, according to court documents. 

The plaintiff is also seeking damages of an amount to be determined at trial.