UPDATE: Philadelphia Senior Living Facility Revokes Retaliatory Eviction of Elderly Disabled Woman for Sharing Her Christian Faith After Calling Her Bible Tracts “Garbage”

The ACLJ is taking action to protect an elderly Christian woman from eviction for sharing her faith. We shared with you how we recently sent a demand letter on behalf of a resident of a senior living facility who had been told to stop sharing her faith with her fellow residents. In particular, she was forbidden from placing Bible tracts on a community table because building management wanted to be more “inclusive.” Our client is now being evicted for sharing her faith. Her landlord, Lindy Property Management Company (“Lindy”), is egregiously retaliating against our client for the exercise of her rights.

Our client, Jocelyn Harris, has severe medical disabilities; she is legally blind, rides a mobility scooter, and is on regular dialysis for kidney treatments. She also receives Section 8 housing assistance. Ever since she started living at her apartment complex, owned by Lindy Property Management, Jocelyn has placed religious tracts in the common area for people to be able to take freely. These religious tracts communicate her religious faith and invite people to visit her church. This common area consists of a community table where pamphlets, flyers, business cards, and other personal materials are regularly available for people to share. Sharing these Bible tracts is an important part of her faith, particularly as many of her fellow residents have no way to attend church and have expressed gratituted to her for sharing these Bible tracts with them.

When she was ordered to stop sharing her faith, we sent a demand letter on Jocelyn’s behalf, demanding that her religious liberty rights be protected and that she be allowed to exercise the privileges that every member of the housing complex has and not be singled out for her religious faith.

In every other circumstance where we have been helping other residents of senior living facilities, the facility has responded by acknowledging our clients’ rights and agreeing to change its conduct. At first, we thought that would occur here. Soon after sending our demand letter, we received a call on Monday, June 3, from Lindy’s lawyer saying that our client could exercise her rights again and freely share her tracts. We considered the matter resolved. But then the very next day, in what can only be described as unlawful retaliation for exercising her constitutional rights, our client received notice that she is being evicted. Our client was told that she has only 30 days to resolve a supposed debt that her landlord is seeking against her. In circumstances like Jocelyn’s – where she faces severe health challenges – such an eviction poses insurmountable difficulties and challenges.

In addition, because of our client’s situation and the benefits she receives, her payments are set up to be automatically received by the housing complex from her debit card account, so her rent payments should all be processed on time by the complex itself. Some of the debt Lindy is seeking is for months where our client’s rent was paid in full, but apparently, the housing complex has drummed up a years-old late fee (if it even existed at all), further evidencing an intent to retaliate.

Thankfully, the law is on Jocelyn’s side. The Fair Housing Act (FHA) not only prohibits discrimination but also contains robust protections against retaliation for those who exercise their legal rights. Our client exercised her right under the FHA by the letter we sent on her behalf, and now, as a result, she is being subjected to the adverse action of eviction. One of the key inquiries the courts look at in order to address whether an action was retaliatory is its timing; when there is a close proximity in time between protected conduct and an eviction, that evidence may create a presumption that an eviction was retaliatory. Here, Lindy initiated an eviction against our client only five days after receiving our legal request on her behalf. This demonstrates the retaliatory nature of its conduct. Moreover, Lindy has displayed open and explicit religious hostility to our client, calling her tracts “garbage” and otherwise exhibiting explicit hostility toward her for her religious faith.

We have sent a second demand letter, threatening a major lawsuit if the eviction proceedings against our client are not halted immediately and demanding that her rights be protected. Discrimination and retaliation against people for exercising their faith are fundamentally antithetical to our constitutional order. Stand with us as we defend Jocelyn’s right to share her faith without fear of reprisal. If Lindy Property Management Company does not resolve this matter by Friday, allowing our client to continue to live and exercise her faith in peace, then we will file a federal lawsuit on her behalf.

UPDATE 06.13.2024: In a big victory, the senior living complex has responded to our latest demand letter rectifying its retaliatory eviction of our client for sharing Bible tracts. Because of the legal action we took on our client’s behalf, her landlord has now agreed to stop evicting her immediately, to explicitly recognize her protected rights to share her faith with her tracts, and to rescind all the improper, exorbitant fines and fees that her landlord had assessed against our client and tried to use as an excuse to evict her in retaliation for her religious expression. The eviction proceedings against our client have officially ended, and she is once again free to live her life and share her faith.