Justice Department: Kansas City, Kansas, Housing Authority employee sought sexual favors from public-housing applicants

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Major news in Wyandotte County surfaced late on Monday when the Justice Department announced that it sued the Kansas City, Kansas, Housing Authority, along with a former employee, on grounds of sexual harassment.

The lawsuit claims that Victor L. Hernandez, a hearing officer and administrative coordinator for the KCKHA until January 2014, subjected two women who were applying for public housing in Kansas City, Kansas, to unwanted sexual advances.

Hernandez could not be reached for comment, and KCKHA executive director Tom Scott said he had no comment about the Justice Department’s allegations.

The KCKHA manages 2,000 units of publicly subsidized housing in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Justice Department lawsuit describes how one woman sought admission to a housing unit from Hernandez in 2012 and again in 2013, but was denied both times. The woman, according to the Justice Department, visited Hernandez in his office to discuss her latest denial, at which point Hernandez, according to the filing, unzipped his pants, exposed himself to her and began masturbating in front of her.

Afterward, the woman was put on a waiting list for a public-housing unit. When she returned to Hernandez’s office months later to sign a lease, she recorded the meeting with her cellphone. The lawsuit says Hernandez once again exposed himself to the woman. The Justice Department claims that Hernandez implicitly made the woman’s housing eligibility conditional upon her willingness to put up with his advances.

Another woman claims that Hernandez subjected her to similar advances when she disputed maintenance fees that the KCKHA had applied to her. In 2013, she met with Hernandez in his office, whereupon, the lawsuit says, he exposed himself and asked sexually explicit questions of her. The woman reported the incident to others in the KCKHA, but the lawsuit says the complaint was ultimately ignored.

The Justice Department says the KCKHA knew or should have known about Hernandez’s alleged conduct, and that it supported conditions to enable his behavior, such as allowing him to meet with public-housing applicants by himself in his office with the door closed.

(The names of both women were disclosed in the Justice Department’s lawsuit, but because they are potential victims of sexual harassment, The Pitch won’t name them without their permission.)

Hernandez was terminated from the KCKHA on January 6, 2014; the Justice Department claims that Hernandez admitted to his conduct to housing-authority officials.

“No one, including those who seek public assistance for housing benefits, should be subjected to sexual harassment, particularly by the very people tasked with providing critical assistance,” said Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in a written statement. “The Justice Department will continue its vigorous enforcement of the Fair Housing Act against those who abuse their power and authority.”