In a small Denton County town, a homeowner’s association wants to boot out tenants who receive government assistance to pay rent — and fine landlords $300 weekly until those renters are gone.
The Providence Village Homeowners’ Association passed new rules at a board meeting June 6, prohibiting tenants from paying rent with government subsidies and limiting landlords from owning more than one rental property, the Denton Record-Chronicle first reported. If landlords don’t want to get slammed with fines, their tenants have to leave — or pay full rent without the assistance of government subsidies, per the new regulations.
The Denton Housing Authority told families not to move, and that they can file a complaint with the U.S. Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, according to a news release. The DHA also said it’s working with the federal government to file a Fair Housing complaint.
Some landlords in the neighborhood have already started filing evictions in an effort to dodge the weekly $300 fine, the newspaper reported.
At least 81 families could be impacted by the HOA’s move. Of those families, 91% are Black and 94% are women-led households. More than 200 children may be impacted as well, according to the housing authority.
Housing voucher recipients in the neighborhood told local media that they believe the HOA’s decision came from homeowners not wanting low-income neighbors. One tenant, Revisha Threat, said she and her family don’t feel welcome or safe in the area anymore. She said they’ve received death threats.
“It’s gotten a little dangerous to the point where I can’t let my kids go to the pool or go anywhere outside of the home because of all the threats I’ve received,” Threat told Channel 8 (WFAA).
But she also fears her impending housing insecurity: “I sit in my living room and cry because I just don’t know what to do,” she told the station.
Jessica Vittorio, an attorney with the Dallas Eviction Advocacy Center, told KXAS-TV (Channel 5) that this may violate Fair Housing laws.
“There is certainly a correlation and disproportionate effect on certain races and ethnicities that are going to become homeless and kicked out of their homes because of this decision and that’s what becomes problematic under the law,” Vittorio told the station.
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