City of Los Angeles Agrees to Pay $38.2M to Resolve False Claims Act Suit for Alleged Misuse of Department of Housing and Urban Development Grant Funds

The City of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $38.2 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly failed to meet federal accessibility requirements when it sought and used Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant funds for multifamily affordable housing.

HUD provides grant funds to Los Angeles and other cities to support housing and community development, including building and rehabilitating affordable multifamily housing units. Recipients of federal housing development funds must comply with federal accessibility laws, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act. These laws prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities in activities receiving federal financial assistance. For example, the laws require 5% of all units in certain federally-assisted multifamily housing be accessible for people with mobility impairments and an additional 2% be accessible for people with visual and auditory impairments. Recipients of federal funds must also implement other housing-related accessibility requirements, including maintaining a publicly available list of accessible units with a description of their accessibility features, adopting policies and procedures to ensure that people who need the accessibility features of particular units occupy them and designating at least one city employee to coordinate accessibility efforts.

In 2017, the United States intervened and filed a complaint in a whistleblower action filed under the False Claims Act alleging that, for over a decade, the City of Los Angeles failed to follow federal accessibility laws when building and rehabilitating affordable multifamily properties and failed to make its affordable multifamily housing program accessible to people with disabilities. The United States alleged that the housing was not structurally accessible because of failures like slopes that were too steep, counters that were too high, and thresholds that did not permit wheelchair access. The United States further alleged that the city failed to maintain a publicly available list of accessible units and their accessibility features. The United States alleged that the city, on an annual basis, knowingly and falsely certified to HUD that it complied with these grant requirements despite its failure to do so. Today’s settlement resolves the pending lawsuit.

“This settlement shows that we will hold accountable jurisdictions receiving federal grant money to ensure they satisfy their obligations to make affordable housing accessible to people with disabilities,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Our years spent litigating this case demonstrate the department’s steadfast commitment to this effort.”

“Municipalities that receive federal grant money for affordable and accessible housing must comply with federal law and honor the rights of people with disabilities,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally for the Central District of California. “The nearly $40 million settlement here demonstrates our commitment to ensuring municipalities receiving federal funds comply with federal law. We will continue to work with the City of Los Angeles to ensure equal access for individuals with disabilities.”   

“By failing to make certain that HUD-funded multifamily housing was appropriately built or rehabilitated to meet federal accessibility requirements, the city discriminated against people with disabilities,” said Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis of HUD. “HUD’s Office of the Inspector General will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who fail to meet their legal obligations for the housing needs of people with disabilities.”

“The settlement announced today sends a clear message that HUD and its partners at the Department of Justice will work tirelessly to protect the integrity of HUD’s programs and demonstrates the importance of providing accessible housing,” said General Counsel Damon Smith of HUD. “In this instance, HUD determined that the City of Los Angeles fell far short of its responsibilities to provide HUD-funded accessible housing, but the settlement agreement provides a fresh start for HUD and the City to work collaboratively to address the City’s pressing housing needs.”

The False Claims Act permits private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a portion of the government’s recovery. The Act permits the United States to intervene and take over responsibility for litigating such an action, as the United States did here. The lawsuit is captioned U.S. ex rel. Ling, et al. v. City of Los Angeles, et al., No. CV11‐00974, and was brought by a Los Angeles resident who uses a wheelchair and the Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley, a nonprofit disability rights advocacy group. The private parties’ share of the settlement has not yet been determined.

In 2020, the United States settled for $3.1 million allegations against another defendant in the lawsuit, CRA/LA, the successor of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, a local redevelopment agency that financed and assisted in the development of multifamily affordable housing using local tax monies and federal grants.

The resolutions obtained in this litigation were the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, with assistance from HUD’s Office of General Counsel and Office of Inspector General.

Attorneys William C. Edgar, Jennifer Chorpening, Daniel W. Kastner and Wesley J. Heath of the Civil Division of the Civil Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen Paik and Paul La Scala for the Central District of California handled the case.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.

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Source: Justice.gov