Sexual Harassment in Housing

Sexual harassment in housing is when a housing provider or their employee makes unwelcome sexual advances, demands sex or sexual favors, often uses other words or acts of a sexual nature, rapes or sexually assaults you.

IT IS ILLEGAL

The law can apply to all kinds of housing. This includes privately owned houses, apartment buildings, condo associations, public housing and homeless shelters.

When the harasser

• asks you out on a date

• asks you to trade sex or sexual favors for rent

• threatens to evict you because you refuse to have sex with him/her

• will not make repairs because you won’t have sex or because you tell him/her to stop

• makes sexual comments to you that make you feel threatened or uncomfortable

• touches you in an unwanted sexual way

• rapes or sexually assaults you
   

It does not matter if you participate or refuse. Even if you have gone along with demands for sex in the past, you have the right to stop it now. 

The most important thing is safety -Call for help! If you are assaulted, call 911.  

• If you are not comfortable reporting to the police but want to talk to someone, call the Sexual Violence Center Crisis Line at (612) 871-5111.

• You can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Minnesota Department of Human Rights or a city agency. Call them for information on what to do.  They will investigate your claim for free. In most cases, you need to file a complaint or lawsuit within 1 or sometimes 2 years.

MN Department of Human Rights
Freeman Building
625 Robert St North
St. Paul, MN 55155
Phone: (651) 539-1100 or 1(800) 657-3704
TTY: (651) 296-1283
www.mn.gov/mdhr

MN Department of Human Rights – St Cloud
City Hall
400 Second St South
St. Cloud, MN 56301
Phone: (320) 650-3133
www.mn.gov/mdhr

Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60604-3507
Phone: (800) 765-9372
www.hud.gov

• Call a lawyer to talk about your options. A lawyer can:
   
  • Get a court order to keep the harasser away from you
     
  • Fight eviction that your landlord filed because of your response to sexual harassment
     
  • Start a civil rights case and ask the court to make the landlord pay money damages to you.

• It is illegal for a landlord or housing employees to make you have sex with him/her by threatening to evict you if you don’t.

• It is illegal for a landlord to make unwanted sexual comments to you that make you feel intimidated.

• If you are being sexually harassed by your housing provider, tell him/her to stop.

• Write down what happened to you while it is still fresh in your memory. It is important to have written records.

• It is illegal for a landlord to evict you because you called the police for help.
   

You have the right to be free from sexual harassment.

To Learn More Contact:

Housing Discrimination Law Project
Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid
430 First Avenue North, Suite 300
Minneapolis, MN 55401
(612) 334-5970

Housing Equality Law Project
Southern MN Regional Legal Services
55  5th Street East
1000 Alliance Bank Center
St. Paul, MN 55101
(651) 222-4731