Class action lawsuit claims Omaha Housing Authority violated tenant rights for years

A class action lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday accuses the Omaha Housing Authority of repeatedly violating the legal rights of low-income tenants over the past seven years.

Current and former tenants suing OHA claim the public housing provider illegally overcharged them for rent, denied them the right to appeal rent increases and tried to evict them when they couldn’t pay.

In some cases, the government-funded agency tried to evict extremely poor tenants from their apartments instead of granting them the rent relief they are entitled to under federal law, the 54-page complaint says.

The content of the lawsuit reflects the findings of an investigation by the Flatwater Free Press published in December.

OHA Executive Director Joanie Poore declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation.

The agency must repay the money it harmed and reform its policies to ensure residents know their rights going forward, said Diane Uchimiya, director of Creighton University’s Abrahams Legal Clinic, which filed the lawsuit along with local law firm Car & Reinbrecht and the San Francisco-based National Housing Law Project.

“People have suffered because of these violations of the law … and they have basically paid their rent and late fees or been subject to eviction notices when that shouldn’t have happened,” Uchimiya told the Flatwater Free Press on Thursday.

OHA’s “predatory and unlawful actions” have left some of the city’s most vulnerable tenants homeless, National Housing Law Project attorney Kate Walz said in a press release.

“I just feel like I’ve been robbed”

The lawsuit was initiated by former Creighton Clinic director Kate Mahern, an experienced attorney who had sued OHA four times in federal court.

Last year, while Mahern was pro bono representing OHA tenants in eviction court, she noticed that a letter informing her client of a $400 rent increase made no mention of the tenant’s right to appeal the decision, as provided under federal law.

That client, Rhonda Moses, is now one of four named plaintiffs in the case filed in court on Thursday.

After Mahern pointed out the missing grievance clause, OHA dismissed Moses’ eviction suit and added the clause to its rent change letter template, Flatwater previously reported.

Moses moved out anyway, fearing it was only a matter of time before the agency tried to kick her out again. The licensed nursing assistant believes OHA now owes her thousands of dollars – money she needs to keep a roof over her head.

“My rent should have stayed the same for the six years I lived there because I never had a chance to appeal it,” Moses said Thursday. “I just feel like I was cheated.”

The lawsuit alleges that OHA failed to adequately inform tenants of their “complaint rights” from October 2016 through September 2023.

Two other plaintiffs, Shernena Bush and Samantha Hansen, represent a separate class that claims OHA failed to notify them of the rent exemption.

The Housing Authority requires low-income and no-income tenants to pay a “minimum rent” of $50 a month. But federal law and OHA’s own guidelines require the agency to provide a “hardship exemption” to families who cannot pay the minimum rent.

Last year, OHA filed two eviction lawsuits against Bush and Hansen each for nonpayment of rent, but the lawsuits were settled or dismissed and both still live in public housing.

The lawsuit alleges that OHA staff never told the two tenants, who pay the minimum rent, about their ability to apply for a hardship exemption, despite repeatedly asking how they could pay $50 a month with no income.

Bush sold her plasma to pay her rent, but had to stop after her blood iron levels fell below acceptable levels, the lawsuit says.

Six current and former tenants who pay minimum rent told Flatwater last year that OHA never offered them the opportunity to apply for hardship relief before they received eviction notices.

In the U.S. state of Illinois, tenants paying minimum rent managed to reach a settlement last year that required the Chicago Housing Authority to provide rental credits to eligible tenants and cancel the minimum rent they had not paid over the past few years.

It is unclear how many current and former OHA tenants are eligible for the class action lawsuit, but the number is likely in the thousands, the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to require OHA to properly inform tenants of their rights to hearings and hardship exemptions. They are also asking that OHA refund money to tenants like Moses, Bush and Hansen who allegedly overpaid.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers hope to settle the case with OHA but are prepared to go to trial, Uchimiya said.

Additional reporting