The U.S. Department of Justice is suing a Toledo landlord, alleging he violated the Fair Housing Act by sexually harassing several female tenants.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, alleges that from at least 2007 through the present, Anthony Hubbard sexually harassed female tenants of rental properties that he either owned or co-owned with three other defendants — his brother Jeffery Hubbard, his mother Ann Hubbard, and Pay Up LLC.
Mr. Hubbard acted as an agent for his three co-defendants while engaging in many of the various acts of harassment, according to the complaint.
The justice department accuses Mr. Hubbard of engaging in “severe and pervasive sexual harassment,” including unwelcome sexual advances and comments and sending text messages, videos, and photos to female tenants, according to a news release from the department.
U.S. officials allege Mr. Hubbard also offered to grant benefits, such as reducing the amount of rent payments or security deposits or waiving late fees, in exchange for sexual acts. The complaint also alleges he refused to provide maintenance services or took other adverse housing actions such as eviction against female tenants who objected to or refused his sexual advances.
He is accused of entering the homes of female tenants without their consent and expressing a preference for renting to single female tenants, the news release said.
Neither Mr. Hubbard nor his brother answered the door at their listed Toledo addresses on Friday. Mrs. Hubbard was not at home, according to someone who answered her door.
Jennifer Dawson, listed on the summons documents as Mr. Hubbard’s attorney, did not return a call seeking comment.
This case is the 12th lawsuit alleging a pattern or practice of sexual harassment in housing filed by the U.S. justice department since it launched its Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative in late 2017.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages to compensate the victims, civil penalties, and a court order barring future discrimination.
Mr. Hubbard served as an agent, co-owner, business partner, officer, or property manager for at least 35 properties since 2000, but U.S. officials focus on seven addresses in Toledo’s central city. The complaint cites four specific examples of alleged sexual harassment.
Between 2007 and 2008, Mr. Hubbard made unwelcome sexually inappropriate comments to a female tenant about her body, both in person and via text message. He also allegedly requested that she have sex with him, requested pictures of her breasts in exchange for a picture of his penis, offered to exchange sex for rent payment, and entered her home without her permission or any notice, the complaint states.
On multiple occasions from 2013 to 2017, Mr. Hubbard pressured a second female tenant who was unable to pay her full rent amount to have sex with him in exchange for a rent reduction and property repairs, the complaint alleges.
U.S. officials also accuse Mr. Hubbard of sexually harassing a third female tenant multiple times from 2013 to 2014. He offered to reduce her security deposit amount in exchange for sex and “entered the home of this tenant without her permission in an effort to see her naked and sexually harassed her via text message on multiple occasions, sometimes sending sexually explicit text messages in the middle of the night asking her what she was wearing and for pictures of her body,” the complaint states.
The complaint also alleges Mr. Hubbard “continuously pressured a female tenant” for sex, sent her videos of people engaging in sex acts via text message, and asked her by text if she was home alone in 2015.
U.S. officials contend those four examples were not isolated incidents and that his brother and mother knew or should have known about the discriminatory housing practices and failed to correct or end them.
The lawsuit claims their actions “caused female tenants to suffer physical harm, fear, anxiety, emotional distress, and inhibited their ability to secure housing for themselves and their families.”
Toledo Fair Housing Center said in a statement that the case is related to one with the center, and applauded the justice department for its actions.
“The Fair Housing Center is well aware of the ongoing harassment of female tenants by Mr. Hubbard, having provided assistance and support to one of his victims," President and CEO Marie Flannery said in a statement. "Our home is the one place where we should feel safe and protected. Sexual harassment in the housing relationship victimizes tenants and their families in multiple ways, not the least of which is shattering that feeling of safety in our homes."
Attempts to reach people living at the rental properties listed in the complaint were unsuccessful, and several appeared to be unoccupied when visited by The Blade on Friday.
First Published December 27, 2019, 4:29 p.m.
