WATERFORD, Mich. – A lawsuit filed Tuesday by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel seeks to dissolve a Waterford-based nonprofit for misrepresenting its housing assistance services to consumers.
The complaint, filed in the 30th Circuit Court in Ingham County, names both Chosen Kingdom Builders and its president, Kwanzel Revon Howerton, for allegedly luring Southeast Michigan property owners and tenants into leases by omitting material facts about the nonprofit’s available funding and housing assistance.
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Nessel says the nonprofit’s “deceptive practices” resulted in tenant evictions and property owners losing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“To the extent some assistance was theoretically available, Defendant CKB’s assistance was speculative and conditioned on events to occur in the future, such as finding assistance from third parties — facts not made clear to the tenants or property owners,” the complaint read.
The lawsuit further alleges that the nonprofit failed to correct prospective tenants’ misunderstandings based on its representations of said facts, and instead, “actively concealed them by representing assistance would be forthcoming.”
Chosen Kingdom Builders was also operating without a real estate license, Nessel says, adding that the nonprofit negligently rented out homes to tenants without conducting proper inspections.
“CKB would incur a large debt with a property owner in the form of unpaid rent, and when that arrangement began to fall apart, it would seek residential properties from new property owners to continue its program,” according to the complaint, which claims the nonprofit appears to have done this to at least four property owners.
Nessel says the lawsuit is seeking injunctive relief under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, the dissolution of the nonprofit, and the removal of Howerton from the nonprofit’s board of directors.
“While it is noble to try to help those in need, these alleged deceptive practices harmed vulnerable people in our communities searching for secure housing,” Nessel said in a statement. “Our laws exist to protect Michigan residents from conduct that jeopardizes their stability, and my office will continue to pursue entities that threaten public safety and welfare.”