A recent tenant's meeting held outside with residents at Bedford and Victoria Station apartments in Langley Park, Maryland.  Image by the author.

On Monday tenants at Bedford and Victoria Stations escalated the fight to hold their landlord accountable for years of neglect and deferred maintenance on the property.

They filed a class-action lawsuit in the United States District Court for Maryland. The named plaintiffs are five tenants who live in Bedford and Victoria Station apartments and CASA de Maryland, Inc., a non-profit that has advocated for the tenants, and most recently helped them file for rental housing assistance through Maryland’s ERA program.

In addition, the suit represents two classes—1) current/former tenants at Bedford and Victoria Stations over the last three years and 2) tenants at other properties owned by their landlord who face similar neglect.

The suit lists six defendants. As I noted in an earlier post, it was hard for Bedford and Victoria tenants to identify who their landlord was. The list of defendants illustrates why. The key defendant is Arbor Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust incorporated in Maryland, but seven subsidiaries are named as co-defendants, including the two limited liability corporations (LLCs) that own Bedford and Victoria Stations respectively (Bedford United, LLC and Victoria United, LLC).

Many of the allegations in the suit cover complaints I wrote about in earlier pieces (see here and here). The lawsuit alleges that the landlord has created unsafe and unhealthy living conditions by refusing to treat vermin infestations, fix holes in ceilings and walls, stop leaks in pipes, repair major appliances, regularly remove trash from the premises, and ensure reliable heat and cooling.

However, the suit also takes aim at the Arbor Realty’s business model. It alleges that Arbor Realty and its subsidiaries take disparate approaches to managing its portfolio. Specifically, it treats so called “harvest” and “value added” properties differently. In “harvest” properties, Arbor Realty raises rents year over year without making corresponding investments in the property. The result is serial disinvestment and often dangerous living conditions. In “value added” properties, Arbor raises rents year over year but also makes core investments.

The suit alleges that these disparate approaches are “unexplainable on grounds other than race.” That is, the tenant plaintiffs argue that Arbor is choosing to purchase and manage harvest properties specifically because they are in poor communities of color whose tenants literally have nowhere else to go given the severe shortage of affordable units in the region. The suit notes that both Bedford and Victoria Stations have 0% white, non-Hispanic residents. The suit also alleges that there are disparate impacts to this bifurcated management model for the communities of color who rent from Arbor Realty. They live in substandard and dangerous living conditions while tenants in “value added” properties do not. The suit concludes that these disparities (in treatment and impact) amount to a violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The tenants have a hard road in front of them. Fortunately, they have the support of key members of the Prince George’s Council. In CASA’s press release announcing the lawsuit, two council members lent public support: Deni Taveras (D-2), Vice-Chair of Prince George’s County Council, and Calvin Hawkins (at-Large), Chair of Prince George’s County Council. In addition, State House Delegate Wanika Fishers (D-47B), Assistant Majority Leader, also offered her support.

While the lawsuit is going on, the Prince George’s County Council and its associated agencies should use all available regulatory and legal tools at its disposal to hold Arbor Realty and its subsidiaries to account. The lawsuit will hopefully bring long-term justice, but Bedford and Victoria Stations’ tenants also need immediate relief.

Carolyn Gallaher is a geographer and associate professor at American University.  Her research interests include gentrification in DC, the emergence of “ethnoburbs” in Maryland and Virginia, payday lending, and tenant empowerment.  Previously, she studied the militia movement in the US and Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.  She lives in Silver Spring with her husband and son.