A Chicago-based fair housing advocacy group reached a settlement with Bernsen Management after accusing local landlords of housing discrimination in a federal lawsuit.
The Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs, which filed the suit in federal court last spring, said landlords Barry and Barbara Bernsen would only rent their Sherman Avenue properties to Northwestern students, discriminating against families and non-students.
“With this settlement, the message to Evanston landlords is loud and clear: This town cannot tolerate two private rental markets, one for students and one for families,” said Gail Schechter, the organization’s executive director.
Interfaith received a complaint from an NU student who wanted to sublet her unit but was told she could only sublet to students, Schechter said, “”so we decided that we wanted test it and check it out.”
An undercover investigation by Interfaith found Bernsen Management was violating the federal Fair Housing Act by turning away suitable families and acting more favorably toward Interfaith representatives who posed as NU students looking for housing.
Bernsen Management denied the allegations after they were named in the lawsuit and did not admit liability while entering into the settlement.
Barbara Bernsen told The Daily the settlement was reached “with prejudice,” which means the property management group cannot be tried again for the same charges.
“I’ve never had, in 17 years, anyone fill out an application and be rejected because they were a family,” Bernsen said. “No one ever filled out an application. No one denied them housing.”
Bernsen insisted she and her husband “would have won if we went to court” but decided to settle early to quickly bring an end to the legal process.
“Because of the material costs in these types of cases, economically, it is cheaper to just settle and give them something rather than go through a federal lawsuit trial by jury,” Bernsen said.
“The lawsuit was settled that we did not do anything wrong,” she added.
To work toward more housing fairness awareness, the Interfaith Housing Center will be spreading awareness by hosting workshops.
About 20 Evanston residents and Northwestern students attended a Jan. 24 tenants’ rights workshop hosted by the organization in conjunction with the city.
Interfaith will also be working with Evanston officials to create a new fair housing brochure and developing a website page.
“What I hope in general is more rental housing will get built in Evanston,” Schechter added.
Audrey Cheng contributed reporting.
