August 29, 2023
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OCF Realty, the real estate brokerage headquartered at 20th Street and Washington Avenue in South Philly, is being accused of discriminating against low-income renters.
A recently filed lawsuit accuses one of the city's biggest real estate firms of discriminating against low-income renters. OCF Realty, a Philadelphia-based real estate brokerage that manages over 3,000 rental properties in the city, reportedly told a woman that it does not accept housing assistance vouchers intended to help low-income tenants afford the cost of rent, the suit alleges.
The complaint was filed by Jennifer Cooper, a 44-year-old disabled woman on Social Security who says OCF Realty told her that she could not use her housing assistance voucher to pay for any of its rental properties. Under Philadelphia law — specifically, a rule known as the Fair Practices Ordinance — it is illegal for property owners to discriminate against prospective tenants based on their source of income, including housing assistance programs.
According to the lawsuit, Cooper toured several OCF-owned properties in East Falls, Manayunk and Roxborough in anticipation of having to vacate her current apartment by the end of August. After spending 13 years on a waiting list, Cooper, who has a fixed monthly income of about $900, was approved for a housing choice voucher — formerly known as Section 8 — by the Philadelphia Housing Authority earlier this year. After viewing the apartments, Cooper called OCF's office and was told by a representative that she could not use her housing voucher to cover the cost of renting any of them.
The suit was filed with the city's Commission on Human Relations by the Public Interest Law Center on behalf of Cooper and the Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania, a fair housing advocacy organization. The HEC conducted its own six-month investigation into OCF's alleged refusal to accept housing vouchers after receiving an anonymous tip.
"Housing Choice Vouchers are meant to provide low-income families with a fair shot at decent and safe housing on the private rental market,” said HEC Executive Director Rachel Wentworth in a statement accompanying the suit. “When landlords providing such housing categorically refuse to consider renters who use housing assistance, they push thousands of people closer to housing insecurity and homelessness."
Despite the long-standing ban on the practice in Philadelphia, it is reportedly not uncommon for property owners to refuse housing assistance vouchers. In fact, 67% of Philadelphia landlords refused such vouchers in a study released by the Urban Institute in 2018. In the same study, the rejection of housing assistance vouchers was more prevalent in wealthier neighborhoods.
In response to the suit, OCF Realty owner Ori Feibush said the issue has more to do with staff training than any discriminatory policies, telling the Inquirer that OCF landlords were not able to complete a training program provided by the PHA that is necessary in order to accept the vouchers. Until being recently fixed, the PHA website had said that the trainings were "canceled until further notice."
Cooper had not yet secured housing on the date the lawsuit was filed, according to the complaint.
