Home builder Camillo Companies accused of fair housing violations

Another Texas home builder stands accused of discrimination against homebuyers with disabilities.

The Fair Housing Council of South Texas has sued Houston-based home builder Camillo Properties and its affiliates Bella Vista Homes and Legend Homes. 

The San Antonio-based nonprofit alleged that the volume home builder “maintains policies and practices that discriminate against homebuyers with disabilities,” in its federal lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Texas. 

“Bella Vista has a strict policy of not allowing any changes to building plans,” which prevents buyers from making necessary adjustments during construction to accommodate disabilities, the lawsuit states.

“Bella Vista refuses to consider — let alone grant — any exceptions to its policy, even if the homebuyer is willing to pay for the costs of any modifications. This policy makes housing inaccessible or prohibitively costly for people with disabilities.”

Home builders are required by federal law to grant reasonable requests from people with disabilities to make their homes accessible, said Nicholas Abbott of Relman Colfax, who represents the Fair Housing Council in the case.

“Bella Vista’s blanket refusal to allow even small accessibility-related changes to home plans harms people with disabilities and flouts the clear requirements that all homebuilders must follow,” Abbott said. 

This lawsuit comes months after the Fair Housing Council sued residential developers Lennar and Arlington-based D.R. Horton, lodging similar complaints regarding policies that prohibit modification of building plans. 

Camillo, which rebranded as SimplyHome by Camillo last year, is one of the largest single-family built-to-rent companies in the United States, according to its website. 

The firm has a portfolio of 10,000 single-family rental homes, according to its website. It expanded to San Antonio and Central Texas last year with its Legend Homes brand. Its properties under the brand include a residential community called Timber Creek in San Antonio and the Retreat at Fossil Creek in Fort Worth. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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