CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Bank of America discriminates against minorities in Cleveland by neglecting foreclosed homes it owns in black and Latino neighborhoods while taking good care of foreclosed homes in white neighborhoods, the National Fair Housing Alliance said Tuesday.
The NFHA said it's expanding its 2-year-old complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to include Cleveland, Kansas City, New Orleans and Vallejo, Calif.
In a news conference Tuesday, NFHA said the nation's second-largest bank practices housing discrimination by allowing foreclosed homes in black and Latino neighborhoods to decline while attending to homes in white neighborhoods, in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.
"It's shocking to see Bank of America continue to engage in this type of illegal discrimination on such a large scale," said Shanna Smith, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. "Bank of America needs to be held accountable."
The civil rights group said Bank of America is "perpetuating segregation," and reinforcing racial stereotypes. Bank of America officials said the allegations are inaccurate.
In Cleveland, NFHA looked at 19 properties owned by Bank of America -- 11 of them in black or Latino neighborhoods in communities such as Garfield Heights, East Cleveland and Warrensville Heights, and eight of them in white neighborhoods.
The 11 homes were neglected in various ways, ranging from broken windows and doors, broken or blocked gutters and downspouts, accumulations of trash, overgrown lawns and shrubs and failure to keep out insects, rodents and more.
All told, NFHA said it has reviewed 868 properties owned by Bank of American in 41 cities nationwide.
Bank of America took sharp exception to the accusations and said the civil rights organizations are looking for money.
"Bank of America has a strong track record and uniform policies for properly maintaining and marketing properties, yet NFHA continues to present inaccurate and misleading information as 'research,' while, at the same time, seeking significant money from our company," said spokeswoman Jumana Baumens. "We are committed to investing in the communities we serve and delivering programs to customers in need of assistance."
During its news conference, NFHA displayed dozens of photos of homes nationwide, most of which were eyesores with boarded-windows or doors, overgrown weeds, piled-up garbage and other problems. It said Bank of America was the owner or trustee of the properties at the time.
Bank of America, however, noted that NFHA's presentation didn't provide addresses of the properties, nor the dates the photos were taken.
"We don't give out the addresses of the properties," Smith, the NFHA president, said in an interview. She said officials don't want Bank of America to impede the investigation by providing altered photos. And in cases where the homes have been sold, she said she doesn't want reporters knocking on doors and embarrassing the new owners.
Smith said that HUD does have all of the addresses of the properties in question.
In Greater Cleveland, the neglected homes "pull the property values down for everything in the entire community," said Hilary King, executive director of the Housing Research & Advocacy Center in Cleveland.
Some might think that 19 homes in Greater Cleveland is a statistically small sample size. Smith said these 19 were just the BofA-owned homes the NFHA looked at in a one-week period.
Smith added that her group found other neglected homes owned by other banks and may be filing additional complaints.
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability or familial status, as well as the race or national origin of residents of a neighborhood. The law applies to housing and housing-related activities, which include the maintenance, appraisal, listing, marketing and selling of homes.