OCEANSIDE — A national nonprofit watchdog group on Monday accused Greystar, the largest apartment manager in the U.S., of violating fair housing laws in several states by refusing to accept Housing Choice vouchers.
The Housing Rights Initiative filed 114 housing discrimination complaints against Greystar, including 53 in California. Two of the California complaints involve Alta O’side, a Greystar-managed apartment community at 1001 N. Coast Highway in Oceanside.
According to HRI, investigators alleged the Oceanside property refused to accept Housing Choice vouchers or imposed unlawful conditions on voucher holders during undercover testing.
The complaints were filed with civil rights agencies in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington, D.C. They allege Greystar violated state and local “source of income” laws, which prohibit landlords from discriminating against applicants based on lawful sources of income, including Housing Choice vouchers.
“Greystar has been committing mass civil rights violations at a scale unlike anything our organization has ever seen. We have never encountered a landlord that operates with such brazen contempt and hostility toward the rule of law as Greystar,” HRI Founder and Executive Director Aaron Carr said in a press release.
Carr told The Coast News that HRI aims to halt Greystar’s alleged discriminatory practices, open its apartments to voucher holders and establish a government-backed task force to ensure the company’s compliance with the law.
People who use housing vouchers — government-funded housing subsidies for low-income families, older adults and people with disabilities — are among the most vulnerable people in the country, Carr said.
Greystar oversees 1.1 million units nationwide, according to its website. If the company complies with fair housing laws, voucher holders will have more housing options, Carr said.
“Everyone deserves a place to live, especially those that lack income,” Carr said.
According to HRI, the complaints stem from an undercover testing campaign that began in October 2025. Investigators posing as prospective renters called Greystar-managed properties to ask whether Housing Choice vouchers could be used to pay rent.
In dozens of calls, leasing staff allegedly said vouchers were not accepted, imposed unlawful conditions on voucher holders or refused to count voucher assistance toward minimum income requirements.
In some instances, leasing agents told testers they would not count voucher assistance toward minimum income requirements, according to HRI.
HRI said several of the recorded calls cited in the complaints were made as recently as early July. The nonprofit has made audio recordings and a list of the alleged violations public and said its investigation remains ongoing, with additional complaints possible.
“Our investigation into Greystar revealed that its discriminatory practices are a part of a much larger pattern of source of income discrimination across housing markets, nationwide,” HRI Program Development Director Akash Patel said in the press release.
“When housing providers unlawfully refuse to consider applicants simply because they use a voucher, they erect barriers that undermine these proven benefits and deny families access to housing opportunities that the law is designed to protect,” said Brian Corman, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, the law firm working with HRI.
According to Carr, Greystar’s alleged discriminatory practices can contribute to homelessness, increasing law enforcement and health care costs, and ultimately raising taxes for residents in Oceanside and across California. He said residents can help by raising concerns about housing discrimination with local government officials and agencies.
The complaints also come after the California Civil Rights Department announced a January settlement with Greystar California requiring the company to review its tenant-screening policies, provide additional fair housing training, and pay $10,000 to resolve a complaint alleging that a rental application was improperly denied because of an applicant’s criminal history. Greystar did not admit liability.
A Greystar spokesperson, in a statement, disputed the allegations.
“Greystar remains committed to fair housing practices in everything we do. Greystar provides training and expects our team members to comply with all applicable laws,” the spokesperson told HousingWire.
HRI said it expects civil rights agencies and attorneys general in the seven jurisdictions to review the complaints and determine whether to pursue enforcement actions. As of publication, no agency had announced formal enforcement action or filed a lawsuit based on the administrative complaints.
