Female tenants allege sexual harassment by landlords

Twin Cities advocacy groups filed two lawsuits this week alleging sexual harassment by male landlords against their female tenants.

In a case filed in Hennepin District Court, a single mother accused her former landlord of subjecting her to repeated sexual advances. Kim Malchow also alleges the landlord, Harvey Tam, intentionally walked in on her while she was breastfeeding.

According to the lawsuit, after Malchow complained about the alleged harassment, Tam evicted her. Tam denies the allegations.

In a case filed in federal court against landlords Thomas Lawrence Monson and Barbara Monson, renter Tasheena Lewis alleged that Thomas Monson installed a secret camera in her bathroom to watch her take showers. Mounds View police are investigating. The Monsons could not be reached for comment.

Attorney Jill Gaulding, who represents both women, said the lack of affordable housing intensifies the pressure on low-income women to tolerate their landlords' behavior.

Complaints of privacy violations in rental housing aren't unusual, said Gaulding, legal director of the nonprofit group Gender Justice.

"What we understand is that they are horrifyingly, depressingly common," she said. "The studies show that women tenants in particular are often placed in a position where they have to choose between having a home and having to put up with pretty horrendous harassment."

Gaulding said there are resources for tenants who feel their rights have been violated, "but oftentimes the specific issues that affect women who are facing harassment in housing, they kind of fall between the cracks."