The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department has filed an updated lawsuit alleging the Chicopee Housing Authority and its executive director violated federal housing regulations in Massachusetts by discriminating against Black, Hispanic and disabled tenants, per the Associated Press. 

Chicopee Housing Authority and its Executive Director Monica Blazic were previously accused of failing to make reasonable adjustments and discriminating against a second-floor tenant with renal disease. The tenant reportedly asked to be relocated to a first-floor property so she could get dialysis at home, but was denied even though the housing authority could’ve granted her request. 

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“It is simply inexcusable for the head of a public housing authority to repeatedly use racial slurs and make other bigoted statements about Black and Hispanic residents, or for the housing authority to repeatedly violate the rights of residents with disabilities,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.  

According to the Justice Department, Blazic has made discriminatory statements to and about Black and Hispanic tenants since at least 2013, including using racial slurs, indicating a preference against having Black and Hispanic residents and demanding that Spanish-speaking residents speak English. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development initially examined the case and charged the housing authority and Blazic with discrimination, later noting the discrimination against the disabled tenant was not an isolated incident but the product of a widespread practice of disability discrimination. 

Clarke went on to say that everyone deserves equal access to housing that is free of discrimination and the Justice Department will take action against landlords who “use brazenly unlawful and discriminatory conduct to threaten and intimidate tenants.” 

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The lawsuit seeks an injunction compelling the defendants to stop discriminating against residents, pay damages and provide reasonable accommodations for tenants with disabilities. 

All charges are denied by both the Chicopee Housing Authority and Blazic, per AP. 

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