Charlotte agency, alleging racial discrimination, sues NoDa apartment complex
Harmony Lowery applied for an apartment lease in Charlotte in 2023. But she was rejected because of a misdemeanor conviction nearly five years old at the time.
Now, a Charlotte government agency has filed a discrimination lawsuit on her behalf, arguing that a third-party screening process used by the apartment management company was unfair.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in late May on Lowery’s behalf.
The complaint alleges Camden NoDa, 515 Jordan Place, discriminated against Lowery, 28, based on her race by wrongfully denying her application using a criminal background screening policy that has an unfair impact on Black applicants.
The lawsuit alleges violations of the Federal Fair Housing Act and state and Charlotte housing laws. Victoria Tolbert, an attorney for CUSA NC Holdings LP and Camden Development Inc., said the company does not comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit also named two property managers as defendants.
Allegations against NoDa apartment
According to the lawsuit, Camden NoDa used Leasing Desk, a third-party screening company, to run background checks on apartment applicants for income, credit, rental history and criminal history.
The apartment operated under a 2021 policy saying certain criminal convictions would be a factor in whether someone would be allowed to rent an apartment. Those included felony convictions, and misdemeanors involving violence or sex.
The policy also says they are able to deny applicants with any violent misdemeanor convictions within the previous five years.
Lowery applied to rent at Camden NoDa on April 24, 2023. The screening process flagged a misdemeanor assault conviction from July 13, 2018 — a difference of four years and nine months.
The Community Relations Committee argues that the screening policy failed to follow U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development guidance on the use of criminal records. That guidance advises housing managers to screen tenants case-by-case and assess the nature, severity, and recentness of a crime, along with any rehabilitation efforts.
The assault conviction resulted from an incident at Lowery’s school that involved a female classmate, the lawsuit said. The suit didn’t provide further detail on the case.
The committee alleges that the conviction being so close to the five year mark means it could have been reconsidered based on HUD’s recommendation.
The committee argued in its lawsuit that the apartment “refused to consider any mitigating circumstances when reaching their decision to deny, although Lowery tried to present mitigating circumstances to Defendants, including the fact that the conviction was almost five years old.”
Disproportionate conviction rate
The lawsuit also included data on disparities in the justice system between Black and white women.
“Black women are disproportionately arrested and convicted at higher rates than white women,” the lawsuit read, citing The Sentencing Project.
The lawsuit alleges that the denial caused Lowery financial strain and emotional distress, including the loss of her job due to instability.
Before the lawsuit was filed, Lowery brought her concerns to the Community Relations Committee, which has power to investigate such complaints and looked into hers, determining that defendants violated discrimination law, the lawsuit says.
