Attorney General Schwalb Sues Property Manager for Facilitating Hostile Housing Environment for Black Female Tenants

Despite Numerous Complaints, Property Manager Failed to Protect Tenants from Pervasive Campaign of Racist, Sexist Abuse

WASHINGTON, DC – Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today sued UDR, Inc. (UDR), a District property manager that manages Waterside Towers Apartments in Ward 6, for facilitating a hostile housing environment that subjected Black female tenants to persistent, pervasive race-based and sex-based harassment, including threats of physical violence, in violation of the DC Human Rights Act (DCHRA) and the Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA). 

Despite numerous complaints and repeated pleas for help from its tenants, UDR allowed a white, male tenant—Gueorgui Iskrenov—to engage in a months-long campaign of targeted abuse towards Black female tenants at Waterside Towers. Even after Iskrenov almost ran over a Black female tenant with his car, hurled racist and sexist epithets at her, and spat in her face, UDR refused to take action and allowed the abuse to continue. The attack on the tenant was so severe that Iskrenov was subsequently charged and convicted of a hate crime. 

“Residents in the District of Columbia are legally entitled to live in homes free of persistent, hostile, discriminatory behavior, and it is against the law for property managers to facilitate a hostile housing environment,” said Attorney General Schwalb. “Waterside Towers tenants made every effort to alert UDR leadership of Gueorgui Iskrenov’s disgusting, hateful, and dangerous behavior, and yet UDR stood by silently as its tenants suffered pervasive, traumatizing harassment. The Office of the Attorney General will continue to aggressively enforce laws designed to protect tenants from such egregious misconduct.” 

UDR manages apartment complexes across the country, including several in the District of Columbia. On multiple occasions, at least two Black female tenants at Waterside Towers independently notified UDR that Iskrenov was threatening them with physical violence, committing acts of physical violence against them, and subjecting them to persistent racist and sexist harassment. OAG’s lawsuit alleges that, by refusing to take action to protect its tenants from such abuse despite being aware of it, UDR created a hostile housing environment for Black female tenants, in violation of the DCHRA, which protects tenants from race and sex discrimination, and the CPPA, which protects tenants from unfair and deceptive housing practices. 

Specifically, OAG is alleging that UDR: 

  • Subjected tenants to a hostile housing environment on the basis of race and sex. A hostile housing environment exists when an individual is subjected to unwelcome conduct, based on a protected trait that is severe or pervasive enough to interfere with the use or enjoyment of a living space. UDR’s actions constitute race and sex discrimination in violation of the DC Human Rights Act. 
     
  • Deceived Black female tenants with lease agreements that guaranteed their safety when in fact UDR facilitated an environment of persistent abuse and harassment. UDR implicitly guaranteed tenants, through their rental agreements, that it would facilitate a safe, livable housing environment. By failing to protect tenants from harassment and threats of physical violence, UDR failed to live up to this guarantee, in violation of the Consumer Protection Procedures Act. 

OAG is seeking a court order to force UDR to take proper measures to ensure that all tenants can reside in their homes without threat of harassment or abuse, as well as monetary damages for harms caused by UDR’s violations of the DCHRA and CPPA. 

A copy of the complaint is available here. 

This case is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Griffin Simpson and Jessica Feinberg and Civil Rights & Elder Justice Section Chief Alicia M. Lendon. 

Report Discrimination 
District residents who believe that they have experienced housing discrimination, or any other form of discrimination, may report it to OAG’s Civil Rights & Elder Justice Section by: 

  • Calling (202) 727-3400 
  • E-mailing OAGCivilRights@dc.gov 
  • Mailing OAG, ATTN: Civil Rights & Elder Justice Section at 400 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001 

OAG’s civil rights work complements the work of the District’s Office of Human Rights (OHR), which is the primary District agency that investigates individual discrimination complaints. You can file a complaint with OHR at ohr.dc.gov/service/file-discrimination-complaint or call 202-727-4559.