HUD, USAO allege landlord exchanged sexual favors for rent reduction
The United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) said in a press release July 12, that a Fort Washington-based landlord was allegedly over-charging Section 8 Tenants and engaging in prohibited “quid pro quo” sexual favors in exchange for rental payments.
For violations that allegedly occurred from January 1, 2017 through Dec. 31, 2020, a property management company called ILJOR Properties LLC, owned by landlord Allan R. Posner, has been ordered to pay $570,000 to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act during its participation with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “Housing Choice Voucher Program” (HCVP), more commonly referred to as “Section 8” housing.
As part of working with HCVP, the program requires landlords to regularly certify that rents they charge tenants who receive housing assistance vouchers, or “assisted tenants,” are not higher than those paid by unassisted tenants residing in comparable properties, said the release. Landlords in HCVP must also show they are not charging any additional amounts to assisted tenants other than charges specified in each housing assistance payment contract.
The USAO alleges that that during the aforementioned times ILJOR “regularly charged Section 8 tenants more than unassisted tenants in comparable properties.” The office said in a press release that these overcharges arose, in part, from Posner’s “engagement in a prohibited quid pro quo sexual relationship with an unassisted tenant, in which he made an unwelcomed proposal to lower that tenant’s monthly rental payments in exchange for sex.”
According to the release, “the individual acquiesced because she was afraid of losing her housing.” Authorities allege that Posner regularly lowered her rent in exchange for sexual acts.
“In doing so, Posner overcharged the Section 8 tenants whose rent was higher than this unassisted tenant, whose rent was regularly reduced,” explained the USAO release.
“Quid pro quo harassment, where a landlord requires a person to submit to an unwelcome sexual request in exchange for housing, is illegal. Here, where the landlord lowered the rent of an unassisted tenant in exchange for sex, he also falsely certified to the government that Section 8 tenants and HUD were not being charged more than unassisted tenants in comparable units,” said Jacqueline C. Romero, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “This office will continue to investigate landlords who take advantage of tenants and who overcharge the government under the Section 8 program.”
Additionally, the USAO also said that HCVP tenants were charged for storage spaces, garage access, and laundry facilities, which were terms not outlined in payment contracts. In one example offered by the USAO, an assisted tenant was only able to pay $4 per month for rent, and a rental agreement with the housing authority noted that she would have no additional charges other than electrical services.
“Posner later threatened to evict [the assisted tenant] when she could not make a $30 payment for rent of her apartment” and a $25-a-month charge for storage space. Another assisted tenant who was a wheelchair-bound amputee, was charged $125 a month for storage “located down a flight of stairs in the basement,” which was also not in her contract with the housing authority, as legally required.
“Exploiting vulnerable individuals through sexual misconduct or overcharging HUD-assisted tenants is both reprehensible and abusive,” said Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “We will continue to partner with the United States Attorney to hold these landlords accountable, protect low-income households from sexual and financial predation, and promote the integrity of HUD programs.”
Anyone living in HUD’s Section 8 program who experiences sexual harassment by a landlord or if a landlord is requesting extra money, the USAO and HUD office request that you call a special hotline at 1-800-347-3735.
This matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Lindgren. The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
