Discrimination
Article on discrimination I wrote for a Wisconsin newspaper back in 2010
Local Landlord Discriminates against Elderly and Disabled HUD Tenants and their families
It has been brought to this freelance writers attention by disabled veteran Gary Graham that his elderly, disabled, and ill health sixty years old mother is being discriminated against in a section eight housing property in Sparta, Wisconsin.
I have known Mr. Graham for five years now and he is not the kind of man to make a ‘mountain out of a molehill’ per say. Sunday, November 4th Mr. Graham went to visit his mother as usual at her home at Heritage Haven with his service dog. As usual, Mr. Graham had his white Samoyed female, Destiny, on her leash even before they stepped out of his vehicle. Destiny, his service dog, is a highly trained service dog that loves interacting with other people especially Mr. Graham’s ailing mother and the other residents at the housing property where she lives.
Mr. Graham was confronted the moment he arrived on the property by the property manager and was told that he was not allowed on the property with ‘that dog’. Mr. Graham asked him since when were animals prohibited but the property manager, Jim Grub, did not have an answer. Mr. Graham next asked Mr. Grub where was the signs posted stating that family and friends could not bring family pets or therapy / service / hearing / seeing dogs onto the property to visit their family that resided at Heritage Haven. Mr. Grub informed Mr. Graham that there were not any signs and that he did not need any. Mr. Graham informed Mr. Grub that until he saw in writing that the new rules were in effect and the signs were posted Mr. Grub could not stop anyone from visiting their family as they had been.
Not only did Mr. Grub attempt to bar Mr. Graham’s entrance with his needed service dog but he also tried to deprive Mrs. Sandra Graham, Mr. Graham’s mother, the visit she had been waiting for all week. Mr. Graham needs his service dog since he has substantial hearing loss and service related PTSD and Destiny alerts him to people, vehicles, objects, etc and without her, he would be in severe danger wherever he goes.
If you have had the privilege to spend any time around elderly people either in nursing homes, retirement centers, or in properties like this you will know that the highlight of the elderly people’s week, month, or year is when they get any kind of visitor, especially family. Now imagine being one of those elderly people, you have one child, you both love animals, and that child has a well-trained service dog that he brings to see you every time he comes to see you since he needs the dog’s assistance. Now imagine the manager where you live telling him he cannot come see you if he has ‘that dog’ with him. If your child was not a strong willed individual you would not get your visit because your child would turn around and walk away, thankfully Mrs. Sandra Graham’s son, disabled career Army veteran of 18 years Mr. Gary Graham, is a strong willed individual and would not be pushed around by Mr. Jim Grub! The following day after this incident between Mr. Graham and Mr. Grub, Mrs. Sandra Graham received a threatening notice from Mr. Grub. This notice warned her that if her son continued to ignore the ‘rules’, which again are not in writing or posted, she would be forced out of the her home. This as one could imagine, highly distressed Mrs. Graham who has a heart condition, and she contacted her son in tears to see if this was something the property could do.
It is disturbing that a company that specializes in housing for the elderly and the disabled would choose to attempt to limit the amount of visitors that their elderly and disabled residents have as well as their quality of life. The question remains, what is the reason behind the sudden shift in the policy of Allegiant Property Management LLC towards the residents and their family members of Heritage Heights?