LOS ANGELES — A Mojave Desert community and sheriff’s department will be forced to spend nearly $1 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit alleging they discriminated against Black and Latino renters, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors hailed the case against the city of Hesperia and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department as a landmark effort to combat policies popular in California and across the country that encourage landlords to evict or exclude tenants with criminal histories or brushes with law enforcement.
Investigations by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and The Times have shown so-called “crime-free housing” laws have disproportionately affected Black and Latino residents, making it harder for them to rent apartments and leaving them at greater risk of eviction.
