24 Drayton Street, Suite 520

Savannah, GA 31401

January 5, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Federal Fair Housing lawsuit against the City of Garden City, Georgia and the Pines at
Garden City results in path breaking victory for fair housing
Savannah, GA -- The owners and managers of the Pines at Garden City (formerly known as Westgate
Apartments) and the City of Garden City, Georgia recently settled a four-year long, federal fair housing
case challenging their ban of tenants with criminal records.

Defendants American Apartment Management Co., Inc., CHG Westgate and the City of Garden City
agreed to pay plaintiffs $112,500.00, plus their attorneys’ fees, and to comply with the Fair Housing Act
in a judgment entered in the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia on November 22,
2017.

The lawsuit challenged defendants’ attempts to evict residents based on their criminal backgrounds —
most for minor offenses, others more than a decade old. The Plaintiffs alleged that overly restrictive
criminal background standards discriminate on the basis of race without advancing any legitimate,
nondiscriminatory objective.

The groundbreaking lawsuit was brought on behalf of fourteen African-American mothers who lived at
Westgate Apartments in 2012 by the Savannah-Chatham County Fair Housing Council, Inc. (SCFHC).

The case began when SCFHC responded to tenant complaint in February 2012, that the Garden City
Police Department (GCPD) and Westgate’s landlord demanded that they abandon their homes within
three days based on tenants’ previously-disclosed criminal records.

A year later, Westgate was purchased - with the blessing of the City - by new owners who instituted a
more draconian rule, barring any tenant who had a record of conviction for most misdemeanors or
felonies at any time within the past 99 years. Evictions filed by the landlord enforcing the new 99-year
rule were stopped by Georgia Legal Service attorneys.

For the full story and a copy of the Court’s judgment, see the attached documents.

‘A blanket 99-year criminal conviction history ban violates the Fair Housing Act,’ Wayne Dawson,
SCFHC’s Executive Director said. ‘It has a disproportionate impact on minorities without advancing
any legitimate business objective. It’s also simply unfair and makes it difficult for folks to find housing in
an already-tight housing market.’’

Plaintiffs were represented by the Woolf Law Firm of Savannah, GA and Brancart & Brancart of
Pescadero, CA.

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For more information:

-- Please see attached documents;

-- Please contact Wayne Dawson

Office: (912) 651-3136 (preferred)
Cell: (912) 308-1713
Email: wayne@savannahfairhousing.org

About Savannah-Chatham County Fair Housing Council, Inc.

The Savannah-Chatham County Fair Housing Council is a non-profit organization that began in 1994. The
mission of the organization is to provide all citizens in Savannah, Chatham and surrounding counties, within
constitutional limitations, fair housing services that will result in the protection of equal housing opportunity from
discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, familial status or disability.

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