U.S. Bank has allowed foreclosed properties in New Orleans’ predominantly African-American neighborhoods to fall into disrepair with trash strewn in yards and overgrown weeds while similar houses in majority white neighborhoods are properly maintained, the National Fair Housing Alliance said Tuesday (March 11) as part of its two-year campaign highlighting the condition of vacant, bank-owned houses.

In response, Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank said the group’s claims are inaccurate because the bank is often the corporate trustee of an investment pool of properties with no legal right to maintain the houses. The bank said the National Fair Housing Alliance “has shown with this issue that they are far more interested in headlines than addressing a real community need.”

Since 2012, the National Fair Housing Alliance has filed complaints under the federal Fair Housing Act with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, arguing that foreclosed, bank-owned homes in black and Latino neighborhoods across the U.S. are often ignored and blighted, while homes in white neighborhoods are cared for and marketed to be sold.

The group has named U.S. Bank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo in its complaints, although the group settled with Wells Fargo last year.

The National Fair Housing Alliance said Tuesday it has amended its U.S. Bank complaint to include property maintenance problems in New Orleans; Dallas; New Haven, Conn.; and Hampton Roads, Va. The complaint now names 35 cities in 15 metro areas. In a conference call with reporters, the group pointed to photographs of deteriorating properties taken by its inspectors.

Shanna Smith, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, said the bank as the trustee and owner of record is responsible for the properties.

“Instead, U.S. Bank turns a blind eye to its responsibility to the neighborhoods and local governments that are losing millions of dollars as property values decline because of the Bank’s poorly maintained and marketed REOs,” Smith said in a news release. “The bank is also ignoring its responsibility to the trusts that hired the bank to maintain their assets.”

In New Orleans, the group examined 22 properties listed as being owned by U.S. Bank. Nineteen of the properties were identified as being in predominantly black neighborhoods and three were in predominantly white neighborhoods.

The homes are in eastern New Orleans, the West Bank, Faubourg Marigny, Bywater, Mandeville and Slidell.

“What was consistent was that when those properties were in African-American neighborhoods, there were significant deficiencies,” said James Perry, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. The New Orleans group is part of the national alliance.

Perry said more than three-fourths of the houses in African American neighborhoods had trash on the property and dead grass and invasive weeds. Nearly two-thirds of those houses had invasive weeds and plants while none of the homes in white neighborhoods had that problem, he said.

U.S. Bank said it serves as the trustee in the majority of houses identified by the National Fair Housing Alliance in its initial 2012 complaint. In other cases, “when we do own the property, we have a strong and comprehensive process in place to regularly inspect and maintain properties to marketing standards, where we have legal access, regardless of their location,” the bank said.

“We share NFHA’s concerns about abandoned and neglected properties, and we fully support efforts to maintain the integrity of our communities,” the bank said.

The American Banker in December published an article questioning the validity of the housing group’s claims and its ties to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. According to the report, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $42 million in its settlement with the housing group.