Class-action status rejected in public-housing tenant suit

A federal judge has denied a public-housing tenant's request for class-action status in a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Housing Alliance in Little Rock over the termination of housing benefits.

Judge J. Leon Holmes' order was entered into the record about 3 p.m. Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

Brenda Glover, 53, alleged in her lawsuit that the housing alliance, commonly referred to as MHA, violated the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations when ending her Section 8 housing voucher benefits.

The agency, formerly known as the Little Rock Public Housing Authority, reinstated Glover's benefits after her November 2014 filing of the lawsuit. Glover's attorneys requested class-action status in December 2015 to include in the lawsuit other tenants who have lost their housing benefits.

But Holmes found that Glover's situation is different from the suggested class of individuals she sought to represent.

"A close reading of the operative regulations and the alleged facts reveals that Glover's termination of benefits claim is unique and should be resolved individually, because any actionable claim revolves around one key dispute -- whether Glover actually failed to pay rent," Holmes' order read. "So far as the evidence shows, Glover is the only putative class member whose benefits were terminated by MHA even though she allegedly paid her rent."

"Glover does not have similar grievances as the other class members," the order said.

Housing Alliance Executive Director Rodney Forte did not return a request for comment on the judge's decision Thursday.

Glover was stripped of her Section 8 housing voucher by the housing agency in 2014 after her landlord sent her a 10-day eviction notice.

Glover said she had proof her rent had already been paid under an agreement signed by the landlord but that the housing authority didn't consider that before terminating her benefits.

Glover's attorney, David Slade of Carney, Bates & Pulliam PLLC, said documents provided by the housing agency show it had stripped 964 other families of their Section 8 benefits since October 2011 based solely on having received a notice-to-vacate letter.

Glover's lawsuit claims, "MHA's policies and procedures allow families to lose their benefits based upon the uncontested word of tenants' landlords."

Slade said in an email Thursday that he was out of town and hadn't had a chance to review Holmes' order and that he would reserve his comments for after he had read it.

According to the judge's order, Forte said during a deposition that the housing agency does not audit its pre-termination hearings or the performance of hearing officers, and he was unable to affirmatively say whether outside attorneys the agency relies upon to conduct termination hearings receive any HUD-specific training.

Still, Glover's claim is "specific and unique to her own hearing," Holmes ruled.

"Glover has failed to show the court that other tenants have been subjected to similar alleged inequities," Holmes wrote.

Metro on 02/05/2016

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