White Detroit tenants sue landlord for not renting to Blacks [View all]

When more than a dozen renters new to Detroit’s up-and-coming Islandview neighborhood met last year to consider forming a tenants’ union, they were struck by the realization that in addition to sharing a landlord, they almost all shared the same skin color: White, in a neighborhood that’s predominantly black.

That discovery is now the basis of a federal lawsuit brought by three of the tenants last month, alleging landlords Reimer Priester and Alex DeCamp racially discriminated against Black prospective and existing tenants by either refusing to rent to or attempting to evict them, thereby “unlawfully (depriving)” the non-Black tenants of “the social and professional benefits of living in a racially integrated society.”

The suit, which one expert calls unusual and a longshot, aims in part to force the landlords to correct the alleged behavior. Just 20 percent of Priester and DeCamp’s 35 rental units in Detroit’s Villages area are occupied by Black tenants, the landlords say, when Census estimates show the zip code is 80 percent Black.

“We’re aware that (they’re) not alone in these practices, but as non-Black residents we wish to stand with the greater community against discriminatory practices that Black residents have faced for decades,” said Jo Messer, a 32-year-old who’s lived in one of the duo’s single-family rentals since 2016 and is the only current tenant suing. “Part of the goal is to get them to come to the table to talk to the greater community about what’s needed, what they want, what’s accessible ... rather than impose their vision.”

Read more: https://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/27249/white_detroit_tenants_sue_landlord_for_not_renting_to_blacks