Charlotte housing authority sued over discrimination against elderly, low credit scores
A former employee is suing Charlotte’s housing authority, alleging her supervisor told her to discriminate against certain applicants for mortgage assistance, retaliated against her when she reported the issue and forced her out of her job.
Tonya Lightner, who worked for Inlivian from 2005 to 2021, filed her lawsuit against the housing authority and its senior vice president of program operations, Monica Nathan, in U.S. District Court on Dec. 8, saying they violated the North Carolina and Federal Fair Housing Act and her constitutional rights to equal protection.
Inlivian, formerly known as the Charlotte Housing Authority, provides affordable housing to low and moderate-income families through housing vouchers, senior living programs, homeownership programs and more.
Lightner, whose role included processing applications for Inlivian’s homeownership program, alleges in her suit that Nathan instructed her “to discriminate against applicants by not processing certain eligible homeownership applications” starting in the fall of 2020. Those instructions specifically applied to applications from elderly people and people with low credit scores, the suit alleges.
The suit claims Nathan told Lightner to instead prioritize “applicants that used lenders and Realtors connected” to Nathan.
A ‘pattern of retaliation’ towards Inlivian employee
When Lightner didn’t follow those instructions, “she was threatened and harassed and told that the applicants selected against Defendant Nathan’s instructions would be canceled,” the suit says. A “pattern of retaliation” continued when Lightner told Nathan’s supervisors and Inlivian’s human resources department about what was happening.
The retaliation led to anxiety and panic attacks and ultimately forced Lightner to leave her job and move out of state, her suit alleges.
Her attorney, Shayla Richberg, told The Charlotte Observer filing the suit “was not an easy decision” for Lightner and that she is “still haunted and bothered by knowing what happened and what went on.”
“She enjoyed the city of Charlotte, and she had to uproot her career in a very abrupt way during the national pandemic. That was part of the struggle in getting this file sooner rather than later,” Richberg said. “And she had to uproot herself and move all the way to Texas just so that she could be with family to support herself.”
Lightner is requesting a jury trial, to be reinstated to her position, back pay, “compensatory and punitive damages,” and reimbursement for “extensive relocation fees, attorney’s fees and expenses and costs of litigation,” according to court documents. The lawsuit puts the “damages, wages, benefits and other compensation” Lightner says she is entitled to at “in excess of $25,000” and says that the amount of “compensatory and punitive damages” should be determined at trial.
Inlivian spokeswoman Cheron Porter told the Observer the agency doesn’t comment on “confidential personnel matters or ongoing litigation.”
“INLIVIAN works vigorously to enforce its policies related to fair housing and equal employment opportunity in an effort to ensure compliance with all state, federal and local laws. We look forward to the favorable resolution of this matter,” she said in an email.
Richberg said Lightner hopes her case will “bring awareness” to Charlotte residents who were “putting in applications that have been denied and didn’t know why.”
“She’s also hoping to place other housing authorities on notice to be mindful of what goes on in their inner-workings so that they can avoid some real issues in their organizations,” Richberg said.
