The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the largest private provider of housing for unaccompanied minors.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs, alleging that the largest private care provider of housing for unaccompanied children in the United States had subjected minors to “severe or pervasive sexual harassment” in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
Southwest Key is a nonprofit operating 29 shelters that provide temporary housing to around 6,350 unaccompanied minors in Texas, Arizona and California, according to the filing.
The organization receives grants from the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement for their services, and the DOJ said that between the years of concern—2015 through at least 2023—the organization received over three billion dollars in HHS funding.
Given its acceptance of federal funds, Southwest Key “is responsible for ensuring it will operate its shelter care in a non-discriminatory manner, and it made express contractual assurances it would comply with all federal statutes relating to nondiscrimination, including the Fair Housing Act”, the court documents said.
The DOJ alleges that the Austin, Texas-based organization failed to meet these standards and violated the Act with patterns of sexual abuse.
