“We had some suspicions that a lot of our neighbors might not fly Black Lives Matter flags, just with the political climate of Idaho,” Jenna Ekwealor said. “We expected some differences of opinion, but we also expected differences of opinion would be respected.”

It eventually led to the Ekwealors leaving Idaho for California this winter and filing a federal suit in September against Charter Pointe builder Hubble Homes, property management companies Association Management Incorporated and Advanced Community Services LLC and the Charter Pointe HOA. The suit also named a property management employee, Hubble Homes’ HOA coordinator and two different Charter Pointe HOA presidents.

Meridian-based Hubble Homes was purchased last year by a division of a Japanese company, as BoiseDev reported.

“Defendants engaged in a long-term pattern of discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act with regards to their operation and management of the Charter Pointe neighborhood and defendant HOA,” the complaint said. “Furthermore, defendants have failed to use reasonable care to avoid injury and to prevent unreasonable, foreseeable risks of harm to (the Ekwealors) by failing to adequately train and supervise the agents and employees of defendants with regards to the requirements of the Fair Housing Act.”

The suit is still pending before Idaho’s Federal District court. The attorney representing Hubble Homes and the other defendants did not respond to a request for comment about the suit prior to the publication of this story.

Dispute over flag began in 2021

The Ekwealor’s first reaction to receiving a request to take their flag down was bewilderment.

Before moving into the house, the couple say they read over the HOA information and CC&Rs governing the neighborhood to ensure they would stay in compliance with Charter Pointe’s rules. But, they were surprised on July 1, 2021, when they received an email from AMI Community Manager Mark Wetzel asking them to take down their Black Lives Matter flag, something the Ekwealors believe was discriminatory to Black Americans.

“When we first got the letter, one of the first feelings was confusion,” Jenna Ekwealor said. “(We thought) ‘there must be a mistake’ because we read the CC&Rs and we read them again after getting that letter and there was no flag policy. There was nothing.”

The email cited the section of Idaho Code governing prohibited conduct for HOAs. This statute does discuss flags, like preventing HOAs from banning the display of the American flag, the Idaho flag, POW/MIA flags or flags for any branches of the United States military. It says HOAs can implement reasonable rules, like requiring American and Idaho flags to be displayed in accordance with federal laws, the materials, size and number of flag poles, how flags are displayed and that flags must stay in good condition. Rules can also be imposed on the size of flags, how they are lighted and noise from the halyard, but it didn’t discuss certain flag types being banned over others or the ability to ban them outright.

Somi Ekwealor wrote back to Wetzel asking for clarification on the statute’s relevance to his Black Lives Matter flag and then looked around the neighborhood.

“Somi canvassed the Charter Pointe neighborhood between July 1, 2021, and July 15, 2021, and took pictures of ten properties displaying flags and signs that lie outside of those listed in Idaho Code 55-115,” the complaint said. “These included: flags of states other than Idaho, ‘Thin Blue
Line’ flags, Donald Trump flags and signs, and flags and signs displaying sports team logos.”

Discovery in the case is still ongoing, but as of now, the Ekwealors and their attorney have seen no evidence these other homes received letters from Wetzel asking for them to be removed. On July 13th, the Ekwealors got another email saying the flag violated Charter Pointe’s CC&Rs. But, the complaint said when Somi Ekwealor replied asking for a copy of the CC&Rs the next day he never got a response. The Ekwealors say they never got a response when they sent the same request by mail.

Questions prompt short-lived flag policy

Instead of identifying where the flag was in violation of the rules, Wetzel sent an email to the Ekwealors at the end of July saying the Charter Pointe Board of Directors would be setting a flag policy for the community.

“(The Ekwealors) believe the statements in the email indicated an intention by defendants to retaliate against and restrict Somi and all African Americans in the HOA because Somi (a) did not remove his Black Lives Matter Flag, and (b) challenged the grounds upon which it was demanded of him,” the complaint said.

Wetzel also sent the Ekwealors a copy of the CC&Rs and pointed to the section on signs, which are not allowed with the exception of real estate sale signs. Flags were not mentioned, the complaint said. Somi Ekwealor again canvassed the neighborhood and saw 17 residents flying a variety of flags, which the Ekwealors have not seen evidence they received warning letters.

In mid-August 2021, housing rights nonprofit Intermountain Fair Housing Council sent an “educational letter” to Wetzel about the Ekwealors’ rights to fly the Black Lives Matter flag, the complaint said. The same month the Idaho Human Rights Commission sent a notice of a complaint to the HOA, Hubble Homes and AMI.

Whitney Burnett, one of the people named in the Ekwealors’ suit, was on the Board of Directors for the Charter Pointe HOA and the neighborhood association and also worked as Hubble Homes’ HOA Administrator and Coordinator. According to the complaint, she wrote to IFHC in early September to “confront” the allegations of discrimination and said the new flag policy was to “limit the possibility of harassment or even an altercation.”

She also told IFHC that AMI was in charge of enforcing the subdivision’s policies, and Hubble Homes requested documentation to ensure they were consistently enforcing rules equally and not singling the Ekwealors out, the complaint said.

On September 17, 2021, a flag policy went into place banning all flags in the neighborhood except flags for sports teams, the United States, Idaho, POW/MIA and associated with branches of the U.S. military. On September 22, Somi Ekwealor once again surveyed the neighborhood and noted 20 homes with flags or signs on display that violated the policy, nine of which were political. The complaint said these included Thin Blue Line flags and those supporting Donald Trump.

Less than a month later, an email signed “Your Board of Directors Hubble Homes” emailed Charter Pointe community members, ending the flag policy.

“On October 25, 2021, members of the Charter Pointe community received an email stating the flag policy was rescinded and stating that ‘while the intent of the policy was in good spirit and was intended to be neutral and non-offensive, it is recognized that the policy distributed may not allow homeowners to display specific flags that hold significant meaning to
them’,” the complaint said.

HOA shifts from company to neighbor control

When you think of an HOA, it’s common to think of neighbors running the board and its rules, but that’s not always the case.

Neighborhoods still under construction are commonly what’s considered developer-controlled HOA, meaning the builder will retain control of the dues, government documents, and rule enforcement. Board members will often be company employees, occasionally with some neighbor representation.

Hubble Homes began construction of Charter Pointe in 2004, which is when the CC&Rs governing the neighborhood were put on the books, the complaint alleges. These CC&Rs require annual meetings with notice to neighbors and said the board members picked by Hubble Homes will be in place as long as the Charter Pointe Development, LLC “has any interest in any property” in the neighborhood, or until they resign.

The Ekwealors complaint said Charter Pointe Development, LLC was dissolved in April, 2015 and could not have held any interest in the subdivision, and thus kept control over the HOA. They say the HOA should have been turned over to the neighbors at that point, long before the Ekwealors moved into the subdivision.

The HOA eventually was turned into a neighbor-run organization in April 2022, according to the Ekwealors complaint. At that point, property management company Advanced Community Services, the Charter Pointe HOA, HOA president from April 2022 until April 2023 Jonathan Baldruf and current HOA President Barbara Campagna took over enforcement of the CC&Rs.

Ekwealor objects to restrictions at pool, gym

Somi Ekwealor then raised concerns about signage at the gym and pool “restricting families with children under the age of 18, 16, 14, 12 and 10 years old from using the pool, clubhouse, and exercise spaces” in place since at least November 2021, according to the complaint. Somi sent an email to the HOA board of directors, after he reiterated the rules, saying pool staff “cannot ask children their age and further cannot disallow children in the pool or gym based on age if unaccompanied by an adult.”

“Somi also cautioned the HOA Board of Directors that it ‘need[ed] to remove the age-based pool rules and the corresponding age-based restrictions for the gym as they are discriminatory’ the complaint said.

He emailed again, “strongly recommending” the HOA revise the age restriction at the pool and the gym saying the restriction “creates tension, is challenging to enforce and is illegal,” according to the complaint. IFHC got involved again that summer and again in November by sending education letters to the HOA saying the signage at the pool was discriminating against people based on family status, but the HOA never distributed new rules for the facilities, according to the complaint.

The Ekwealors complaint said the Charter Pointe Gone ROG Facebook page and members of the HOA members made “disparaging statements apparently based on stereotypes of minor-aged children, color and race using the Charter Pointe community facilities in early July 2023.”

“All members of the defendant HOA board of directors, including the 2023
Charter Pointe HOA Secretary who was noted as a top contributor on the Facebook page, failed to educate members of the Facebook page on fair housing, discourage discriminatory statements, or potential neighbor-on-neighbor harassment,” the complaint said.

A screen capture of the comments obtained by BoiseDev show community members in the group discussing disruptive behavior from minors without an adult at the pool and clubhouse, like using rugs or gym weights to prop the door open so the area can be accessed without a key or banging on the doors and windows to be let inside

Other comments criticized preteens for using gym equipment incorrectly, the theft of a television from the clubhouse and other behaviors such as fighting, loud music “saying super inappropriate things in front of little kids” and “letting in tons of kids not from the neighborhood.” One comment also described an alleged bike theft at the facility by a “young teenage black kid.”

‘This kind of thing happens all the time’

Somi and Jenna Ekwealor are feeling more settled and optimistic about their new home in California, but they can’t help but want to stop Hubble Homes and the Charter Pointe HOA from taking similar actions in the future.

The couple told BoiseDev they hope this suit will help ensure no one else feels the type of anxiety and discrimination they say they experienced in the subdivision. It was an especially difficult experience for them because of both the unknown nature of who exactly served on the HOA board and was making calls for them to remove their flag in 2021 and set a flag policy aiming to get their flag taken down, as well the fact that they felt discriminated in their own home.

“The HOA needs to be held accountable for their actions and we need to in any way we can help prevent this from happening to anyone in the future,” Somi Ekwealor said, noting the size of Hubble Homes’ operation.