FY 2002 Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Awards
Bush Administration Awards $20.3 Million to Continue Fight Against
Housing Bias
The Department of Housing and Urban Development's fight against
illegal housing discrimination in America got a boost on November
19 , 2003, with the announcement of $20.3 million in grants to fair
housing groups in 78 cities around the country.
"These fair housing grants will help meet the Bush Administration's
goal of increasing minority homeownership by 5.5 million families
by the end of the decade," explained Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Mel Martinez. "Every American should have equal access
to housing opportunities and today's announcement is another step
in that direction."
The groups will use the funds to investigate allegations of housing
discrimination, educate the public and housing industry about housing
discrimination laws, and work to promote fair housing. The grants
are funded under HUD's Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP).
Alabama
Birmingham
Fair Housing Center of Northern Alabama - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Center of Northern Alabama will conduct fair housing
enforcement activities in approximately 23 of Alabama's 67 counties.
This effort will provide a systemic approach to combating the discriminatory
patterns and practices experienced by all protected classes, with
special emphasis on the disabled and immigrants. This project will
combine housing outreach and investigative services with complaint-based
and systemic testing in the rental, sales, and insurance markets.
This project will include paired rental tests, sales test and insurance
tests and will assist residents with fair housing complaints.
Mobile
Fair Housing Agency of Alabama - $98,106
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Fair Housing Agency of Alabama will provide an aggressive education
and outreach program to promote awareness and knowledge of fair
housing laws in Southern Alabama.
Their goal is to further enhance economic viability and improve
the quality of life in their communities. The project's activities,
which will focus on Mobile County, Alabama, will include: conducting
fair housing workshops and training seminars for the public, housing
providers, mortgage lenders and the advertisement industry; disseminating
electronic and print media materials on fair housing rights; and,
strengthening partnerships to establish fair housing programs to
assist low and moderate income persons and persons with disabilities.
Mobile
Mobile Fair Housing Center, Inc. - $175,609
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Mobile Fair Housing Center, Inc. (MFHC) is a private, non-profit
agency established to promote fair housing and prevent discrimination
based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability,
and familial status. Through this grant, MFHC plans to improve its
enforcement and outreach by implementing a program to counter predatory
lending in the Mobile area; expanding housing opportunities for
protected classes; providing training in order to better align processes/procedures
with the Fair Housing Act; conducting a pilot program with a rural
faith-based organization to better identify and assist rural and
immigrant populations at risk; collaborating to expand permanent
housing opportunities for the homeless in the region; expanding
the pool of trained testers; and conducting at least one fair housing
summit during the grant period.
Montgomery
Central Alabama Fair Housing Center - $274,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Central Alabama Fair Housing Center (CAFHC) will build upon
its initial enforcement activities to combat pervasive race-based
housing discrimination in central Alabama. The organization will
expand its services in the areas of rental and sales testing as
well as non-testing investigations to address the following problems:
discriminatory sales steering practices; predatory lending, particularly
targeting the rural and impoverished west Alabama "Black Belt";
national origin complaints, particularly as they pertain to central
and south Alabama's Hispanic communities and other recent immigrant
groups; and discrimination toward people with disabilities.
Arizona
Phoenix
Arizona Fair Housing Center - $99,962
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Arizona Fair Housing Center (AFHC) will continue to operate
an outreach campaign designed to educate residents about laws against
housing discrimination. AFHC couples fair housing education with
the investigation of housing discrimination complaints to serve
residents of seven counties throughout central and northern Arizona,
particularly its increasing minority Latino population. Using its
resource network of community and civil rights organizations, agencies
and churches, along with bilingual media consultants and written
materials, AFHC will provide fair housing information to individuals
isolated by language and cultural barriers. In addition, AFHC counselors
will present workshops and seminars informing individuals about
the housing complaint process and refer valid complaints to the
appropriate regulatory agencies. Staff attorneys will augment services
by reviewing referrals to assure that investigations are comprehensive
and adequately completed.
Tucson
Southern Arizona Housing Center - $274,960
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Through this project, the Southern Arizona Housing Center (SAHC)
will endeavor to address housing problems precipitated by economic
and social trends concentrated in the Colonias in the eight counties
along the Arizona-Mexico border. Specific activities include identifying
fair housing complaints in underserved areas and helping local organizations
process them; conducting systemic testing to monitor industry compliance
with the Fair Housing Act; conducting education and outreach to
support compliance efforts; and, increasing SAHC's capacity to provide
effective fair housing enforcement.
California
Los Angeles
Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc. - $70,000
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc. (MHAS) will conduct a land
use and zoning training project to provide education and outreach
in five Southern California Counties: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside,
Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties. Activities will include providing
training and technical assistance to non-profit housing developers
and other organizations involved in the development and operation
of housing for people with disabilities. Project activities will
have a two-pronged focus: (1) to raise awareness of fair housing
laws pertaining to disability and their implications to land use
and zoning; and (2) to enable these organizations to address successfully
discriminatory barriers to the development of housing for people
with disabilities. Specifically, the project will conduct three
in-depth training sessions; provide ongoing technical assistance;
distribute an education and outreach mailing; make at least one
presentation at a local, regional, or statewide conference; and,
work with local task forces and inter-agency collaborative to further
fair housing for people with disabilities.
Oakland
Bay Area Legal Aid - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Bay Area Legal Aid will augment HUD's ongoing efforts to ensure
equal housing opportunities through aggressive Fair Housing enforcement
activities. Competition for a limited supply of rental housing in
the Bay Area continues to impact Fair Housing choices. Bay Area
Legal Aid's activities will address the Fair Housing needs of protected
groups with a focus on non-English speaking immigrants and underserved
populations of the rural areas of Gilroy, Alviso, West County San
Mateo, and East Contra Costa County (Concord, Pittsburgh, and Antioch).
Bay Area Legal Aid will also work with neighborhoods in cities such
as Fremont, Santa Clara, Hayward, Oakland and San Francisco. The
program will provide aggressive enforcement through: 1) several
Fair Housing community education presentations to empower individuals
to recognize and report acts of housing discrimination; 2) fair
housing trainings to the staff of government and community-based
organizations on how to recognize and refer a complaint of housing
discrimination; 3) the development of fair lending software to curb
predatory lending; 4) the recruitment and training of forty (40)
testers; 5) the investigation of complaints; 7) the conciliation
of cases; and 8) the filing of cases.
Ontario
Inland Fair Housing and Mediation Board - $88,903
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Inland Fair Housing and Mediation Board (IFHMB) provides fair
housing services to individuals and households throughout parts
of southern California. Under this grant IFHMB will combat and reduce
discrimination in housing by expanding its capacity to help federally
protected classes learn more about housing discrimination. Outreach
is provided in Spanish and fair housing education will be provided
to the Spanish-speaking population, regarding homeownership with
an emphasis on predatory lending. Fair housing workshops, conducted
for English as a Second Language (ESL) students, will cover renting
through home buying and will address predatory actions as well as
health and safety issues. IFHMB will develop a survey for the participants
to help the agency understand the problems that need to be addressed
in future classes. Three 30-minute fair housing videos (produced
in 2001) will be translated into Spanish so that they can be aired
on cable television.
San Francisco
AIDS Legal Referral Panel - $69,883
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
The AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP) will promote awareness and
knowledge of fair housing law among people living with HIV/AIDS,
as well as housing and service providers in the City and County
of San Francisco through presentations, literature, and training.
The applicant will target social service providers and community-based
organizations throughout San Francisco in an effort to build their
capacity to provide their HIV/AIDS clients with sound advice for
finding and maintaining housing. In addition, the project will provide
developers, landlords, rental managers, real estate agencies, and
property owners the education they need to make informed choices
that will contribute to the goal of accessible housing.
San Francisco
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) is a private non-profit
California corporation that provides legal representation to farm
worker, minority and low-income communities throughout rural California.
Through its Rural Fair Housing Center, CRLA will initiate mandatory
referrals; collaborate with federal, state, and local fair housing
agencies in testing, complaint reporting, complaint referral and
enforcement action efforts; revise and implement internal CRLA training;
and provide intake and referral for fair housing complaints in all
field offices and utilize a data capture and retrieval system for
fair housing complaints, referrals, and analysis of discriminatory
patterns and practices. CRLA Rural Fair Housing Center will focus
its services within the northern Sacramento Valley, the Central
Valley, the Salinas Valley-Central Coast, and the Mexican border,
and will target underserved populations, including: migrant and
seasonal farm workers, recent immigrants, indigenous groups, rural
and poor minorities, ethnic minorities, linguistically and culturally
isolated populations, and people with disabilities.
San Rafeal
Fair Housing of Marin, Inc. - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Fair Housing of Marin (FHOM), will focus on the enforcement of the
rights of immigrants and persons with disabilities, and discrimination
against African-Americans in residential care facilities, as well
as ascertain if predatory lending practices exist in the California
counties of Marin, Sonoma, and Napa. Enforcement activities will
include complaint solicitation, intake and investigation; on-site,
bilingual counseling at an agency serving immigrant populations;
recruitment and training of new testers; a Latino national origin
audit in Napa County; professional mediation; and an initial investigation
of predatory lending practices in Marin and Sonoma counties. Educational
activities will include two Immigrant Rights Workshops in English
and Spanish. FOHM will publicize its program through Spanish and
English advertisements in local newspapers and will use other media
to communicate project results.
Santa Ana
Orange County Fair Housing Council - $129,600
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
This project will focus on Fair Housing Act violations having particular
impact on immigrant communities while continuing the organization's
existing enforcement activities, including education and counseling,
complaint intake, complaint-based testing; investigation of housing
discrimination allegations; evaluation of test results; mediating
complaints; and enforcing meritorious claims through court or administrative
actions. In addition, the organization plans to expand its current
enforcement activities through paired testing of rental housing
providers, real estate agents, and home mortgage lenders in order
to determine evidence of differential treatment on protected class
characteristics of race, color, or national origin, as well as limited
English proficiency. It will also examine any connection between
predatory lending practices of sub-prime lenders and differential
treatment against persons in the above-mentioned categories.
Colorado
Denver
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) will work to enhance compliance
with Federal, State, and local fair housing laws by promoting activities
that focus on the needs of persons with disabilities, homeless and
low-income, minority and migrant populations, those who have experienced
discrimination since September 11 as a result of their national
origin or religion, and those individuals vulnerable to abusive
lending practices. CCH partners with government agencies, service
providers including landlords, and faith-based, cultural, and community
organizations throughout the state to provide bilingual information
to consumers regarding their rights and to assist housing providers
and lenders in complying with mandates. Mosques, churches, synagogues,
and neighborhood associations serve as information distribution
channels. CCH advocates on behalf of its individuals, aiding them
in recognizing discriminatory housing and lending practices and
filing complaints to the appropriate enforcement agencies.
Denver
Housing For All The Metro Denver Fair Housing Center - $268,674.66
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Metro Denver Fair Housing Center (Center) will perform the following
activities: conduct paired tests in the areas of rentals, sales,
and mortgage lending; conduct investigations of individual and systemic
housing discrimination. In addition, the Center will conduct an
annual Fair Housing Summit to increase awareness about fair housing
laws and resources; collaborate with a local attorney to conduct
a seminar to inform architects, builders, planners, and inspectors
of accessibility laws and regulations that apply to new construction.
Finally, the Center will collaborate with local community service
agencies to improve services to non-English speaking and limited
English proficiency and immigrant populations; perform systemic
testing of mortgage lenders and real estate firms to identify sites
where there may be region-wide discrimination; and implement a landlord/tenant
intervention program.
Connecticut
Hartford
Connecticut Fair Housing Center - $254,558
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Connecticut Fair Housing Center Inc. will conduct outreach to
and investigation of complaints from all people of all protected
classes, with a special focus on national origin, race, disability,
and family status. To accomplish these activities, the organization
will investigate complaints of discrimination; continue to perform
home sales testing in suburban communities to discern steering of
Latinos and African Americans; teach the fair housing portion of
a first-time homebuyer class; conduct specific outreach directed
to the Hispanic/Latino community as well as outreach directed at
combating housing discrimination based on religion and national
origin and provide fair housing services to people with disabilities
by testing for discrimination based on psychiatric disabilities
and HIV/AIDS status, conducting outreach and advocacy services,
and conducting accessibility surveys of newly constructed housing.
Delaware
Wilmington
Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council - $64,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council (DCRAC) has several
years of experience in fair housing education and outreach. DCRAC
plans to utilize their existing networks, while exploring networks
with leaders in the immigrant, Muslim, and disabled communities,
to continue to educate all Delawareans about fair and equal access
to housing and lending. DCRAC's outreach program has two components:
a media outreach blitz that capitalizes on its strong network to
relay much needed fair housing information, including a journal
column and newsletters; and an educational program that includes
information about fair housing and fair lending, and how to contact
DCRAC. The DCRAC Informational Special, a TV program, is designed
to empower consumers to seek out enforcement of noncompliance with
fair housing and fair lending laws. DCRAC also will continue to
distribute educational materials in Spanish on building alliances
with Latino and disabled advocates that will assist in helping residents
deal with inappropriate fair housing practices.
District of Columbia
Acorn Fair Housing - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
ACORN Fair Housing will conduct a campaign to increase compliance
with the Fair Housing Act, designed to decrease the "reverse
redlining" or predatory lending that is occurring in neighborhoods
primarily inhabited by the elderly, low-income, and people of color.
ACORN's national education and outreach efforts serve HUD's Southwest
United States region, specifically Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio,
Texas. ACORN uses its links with community organizations, churches,
unions, small businesses, immigrant organizations, and city governments
to distribute information and assist individuals with filing complaints.
Equal Rights Center - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Equal Rights Center's Private Enforcement Initiative will address
the Fair Housing needs of the Washington, DC Metropolitan region.
It is designed to increase compliance with the Fair Housing Act
and its substantially equivalent Fair Housing laws by aggressively
working to root out all forms of discriminatory housing practices
and by working to increase enforcement actions that both expand
the law and vindicate the rights of victims of discrimination. The
Equal Rights Center will assist victims of discrimination, particularly
Latinos, Asians and other immigrants by conducting complaint intake,
testing, investigations, and referral of rentals, sales, mortgage
lending, and design and construction accessibility complaints to
HUD FHEO for enforcement action.
Leadership Conference Education Fund - $1,000,000
Education and Outreach Initiative - Media Campaign Component
(EOI-MC)
Grant funds will be used for a national multimedia campaign to coordinate
with National Fair Housing Month observed in April, 2003. LCEF's
partners on this project will be the National Fair Housing Alliance,
the Ad Council, and a coalition comprising more than 180 national
civil rights organizations representing African Americans, Hispanics,
Arab and Asian Americans, persons with disabilities, families with
children, faith-based organizations, and rural housing communities.
LCEF will produce advertisements, public service announcements,
and a website to publish and disseminate fair housing materials
in various languages.
National Fair Housing Alliance - $999,712
Education and Outreach Initiative - Fair Housing Awareness
Component (EOI-FH)
Grant funds will be used to coordinate a national multi-media campaign
to specifically address the issue of predatory and abusive lending
practices. The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) will focus
on populations that are most vulnerable to lending scams such as
the elderly and homeowners who have built equity in their homes
and live in predominately African American, Latino, Asian American,
Native American, and other integrated neighborhoods. NFHA will partner
with the Ad Council, National Coalition of Asian Pacific American
Community Development, National Council of La Raza, and various
community, consumer, and fair housing organizations. NFHA will also
provide materials to national organizations representing disability
rights issues as well as those representing minority rural housing
needs.
* National Fair Housing Alliance - $1,049,622
Fair Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI)
Grant funds will be used by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA)
to establish a new full service organization in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Marion County Center for Housing Opportunities (MCCHO) will
serve all protected classes residing in Marion County, Pike, Washington,
Lawrence, Wayne, Center, Warren, Decatur, Perry, and Franklin townships
with special attention to Latinos and Asians. MCCHO will distribute
bilingual material that addresses rental, sales, lending, and insurance
practices. In addition, MCCHO will leverage its collaboration with
other non-profit and government entities and attorneys to increase
enforcement activities including testing, investigations, and administrative
and legal support. This is a three-year grant.
* Description also listed under Indiana
Florida
Cocoa
Fair Housing Continuum, Inc. - $274,998
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Under this grant, the Fair Housing Continuum, Inc. will continue
to focus on the issues concerning persons with disabilities and
will increase efforts in the underserved community of immigrant
populations. The Continuum will provide fair housing enforcement
and conduct education and outreach with special emphasis on national
origin and religion issues of the underserved communities of immigrant
populations (non-English speaking or limited English proficiency)
and persons with disabilities. The Continuum will recruit and train
testers, complete systemic and/or complaint-based tests, conduct
an annual Fair Housing Month Activity, and implement a media campaign.
In addition, the Continuum will continue testing on new construction
accessibility during this grant period.
Daytona Beach
Mid-Florida Partnership, Inc. - $100,000
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
Mid-Florida Housing Partnership, Inc. (MFHP) will provide outreach
and education to underserved areas and populations on their rights
and responsibilities under fair housing laws with special emphasis
on the needs of the disabled. The project will serve Volusia, Flagler,
and Seminole counties. MFHP will utilize a network of local area
churches, social service agencies, and disabled (citizen) advocacy
groups to deliver the fair housing law and will also inform citizens
about the dangers and hazards of predatory lending, how to recognize
it, and how to avoid it. MFHP will utilize the efforts of a bilingual
fair housing advocate. MFHP will develop a fair housing website
with a link to its homepage and other helpful resources. It also
will develop a complaint referral process and assist citizens with
a simplified mechanism to file a complaint of discrimination with
HUD. MFHP, in partnership with the Fair Housing Continuum, Inc,
will provide trainings, workshops, and seminars on fair housing
and the rights and responsibilities of the citizens and community
and will serve as a clearinghouse for information on fair housing
for housing providers and consumers.
Jacksonville
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. - $723,293
Fair Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI)
The grant funds will be used over a three-year period to sponsor
two fair housing organizations Three Rivers Legal Services (TRLS)
and Withlacoochee Area Legal Services (WALS), in the Gainesville
and Ocala areas, respectively. Activities will be centered in 15
under-served metropolitan and rural counties which include: Alachua,
Marion, Columbia, Suwanee, Hernando, Sumter, Citrus, Levy, Gilchrist,
Dixie, Lafayette, Madison, Taylor, Union, and Hamilton. The TRLS
and WALS will conduct fair housing enforcement activities serving
Hispanics and African Americans.
Jacksonville
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. - $274,960.11
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. (JALA) through the Fair Housing
Advocacy Center (FHAC) in Jacksonville will continue to serve as
the exclusive provider of private enforcement of fair housing laws
on behalf of victims of discrimination in the Jacksonville metropolitan
area. In addition, the FHAC will continue to provide quality fair
housing testing in areas of rental, sales, fair lending, and insurance.
Since 1996, FHAC's enforcement activities have resulted in the referral
of hundreds of fair housing complaints, the award of thousands of
dollars in monetary settlements to victims of housing discrimination,
the granting of reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities,
and the preservation of homes for families.
Lantana
Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beach, Inc. - $186,649.16
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches Inc. (FHC) will
provide service to the non-English speaking immigrants, with emphasis
on those who are vulnerable to acts of discrimination based on national
origin and religion. The FHC will educate all people protected by
the Fair Housing Act (race, color, national origin, religion, disability,
sex, and familial status) and the general public of their rights
to fair housing. Specific activities of this broad-based, full service
enforcement project will include: interviewing potential victims
of discrimination, analyzing housing-related issues, taking results,
conducting preliminary investigations, conducting mediation, enforcing
meritorious claims through enforcement agencies, and disseminating
information about fair housing laws.
Miami
Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Inc. - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Inc. (H.O.P.E., Inc.),
will be a catalyst for establishing and institutionalizing a network
of entities that advocate for the fair housing rights of immigrants,
persons with disabilities, the homeless, and other minority groups.
H.O.P.E., Inc. will provide a full range of fair housing services,
including complaint intake, testing, investigation, fair housing
counseling, and supervised referrals, to residents of Miami-Dade
and Broward counties, with the goal of increased numbers of fair
housing complaints. Outreach activities will be conducted in Spanish
and Creole in an aggressive effort to reach the massive groups of
immigrant and non-English speaking persons of South Florida. H.O.P.E.,
Inc. will conduct intake and investigation of fair housing complaints
and will conduct numerous tests.
West Palm Beach
Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County's grant project coordinates
a campaign that facilitates compliance with Federal and State fair
housing mandates. Serving Palm Beach County residents, the Project
employs an outreach coordinator, and paralegal, who with other staff,
develop informational tools necessary to inform target populations
about fair housing issues, especially within the context of disabilities
and predatory lending. The Society will conduct consumer and housing
provider workshops and distribute printed and electronic versions
of educational materials representing the major outreach initiatives,
particularly directed to groups most vulnerable to discrimination
based on their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, handicap,
and familial status. Project collaborations with government agencies,
professional associations, property owners, and neighborhood associations
bridge these communities with the resources they need for increased
public awareness of rights, obligations, and mechanisms for compliance
and remediation.
Georgia
Hinesville
JC Vision and Associates, Inc. - $99,993
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
JC Vision and Associates will provide fair housing educational and
outreach in its service area and select rural county areas. JC Vision
will provide educational seminars, outreach activities, one-on-one
counseling, referral services and follow-up services to assist the
rural communities to become familiar with local and national fair
housing laws and regulations as well as provide complaint referrals
to the appropriate local and State agencies
Savannah
Savannah-Chatham County Fair Housing Council, Inc. - $96,288
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Through its Coastal Discrimination Project, the Savannah-Chatham
County Fair Housing Council (SCFHC) will endeavor to eliminate housing
discrimination through conducting complaint-based and systemic testing.
The project will target underserved populations and expects to produce
several outcomes, including: investigation and resolution of housing
discrimination complaints; continued progress toward Fair Housing
Action Plan goals; and a gradual reduction in discriminatory housing
practices within the target area.
Hawaii
Honolulu
Legal Aid Society of Hawaii - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Legal Aid Society of Hawaii plans to promote fair housing through
coordinated outreach efforts among housing agencies and organization.
The Society builds coalitions among faith-based and community organizations,
and hence, its capacity to serve renters and homebuyers who are
most susceptible to discrimination (i.e., non-English and limited
English immigrants, persons with disabilities, Filipinos, those
of Hawaiian or other Pacific Island descent, and black and African
Americans). Their activities will include distributing fair housing
materials and conducting trainings, with a concentration on public
awareness, support, and enforcement services to low-income families
forming the cornerstone of the campaign. The majority of outreach
will occur on the island of Oahu. The Society plans to replicate
its program for export to neighboring island service providers.
Idaho
Boise
Idaho Legal Aid Services, Inc. - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Idaho Legal Aid Services (ILAS) will utilize FHIP funds to continue
to promote statewide education and outreach about fair housing requirements.
ILAS' target population is consumers, particularly ethnic and non-English
speaking minority immigrants, persons with disabilities, and persons
living in low-income and rural communities. With a goal of increasing
fair housing awareness, Idaho Legal Aid Services partners with the
Intermountain Fair Housing Council to present symposiums for housing
providers. Augmenting the symposiums are a web site and newsletter,
marketing materials, and multilingual brochures, including ones
produced in alternative formats to accommodate persons with disabilities.
Several collaborations with social service, government, immigrant,
and other non-profit organizations increase project capacity for
education and outreach activities.
Boise
Intermountain Fair Housing Council - $274,989
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Through FHIP funding, the Intermountain Fair Housing Council will
ensure that all Idahoans have a full choice in housing opportunities.
The Council relies on the twin strategies of education about, and
enforcement of, State and Federal fair housing laws to fulfill its
mission. With about 60 percent of Idaho's households living in communities
under 20,000 inhabitants, Idaho has been determined by HUD to be
an unserved and underserved rural state. More than half of Idaho's
households include families with children under 18 or persons with
disabilities. Idaho's immigrant population consists of some 100,000
Latinos (most Spanish-speaking), Native Americans (16,000 -
20,000). There are also some 10,000 recent or new immigrants from
Eastern Europe who speak little or no English. Southeast Asia, Africa,
or the Middle East are serious risk of discrimination in housing.
The Council will provide a comprehensive, full service enforcement
program that will focus on the fair housing rights of rural immigrants;
limited English speaking communities; those experiencing religious
discrimination in housing; families with children; and persons with
physical and mental disabilities.
Illinois
Chicago
Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Access Living Metropolitan of Chicago proposes to take up the spirit
of the New Freedom Initiative and the strategic goals of HUD such
as promoting home ownership; strengthening ties with faith-based
community groups; improving the quality of public housing; addressing
community development; and embracing high standards of ethics and
accountability. The target area of the project is Cook County and
the Chicago Metropolitan area, Illinois' most populous and racially
diverse region. The project will attend to all protected class claims
throughout the Chicago Metropolitan area, however, it will articulate
particular consideration to: (1) discrimination claims based on
race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national
origin as they are experienced by people with disabilities; (2)
incorporating new HUD strategic goals, like homeownership and improving
public housing; and (3) targeted outreach to immigrants, and other
underserved communities in Chicago, especially the city's Empowerment
Zone.
(Second grant) Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under
Law, Inc. - $242,339
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
While addressing the needs of minorities in the metropolitan Chicago
area, the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights will increase
awareness of fair housing rights; empower victims to report incidents
of discrimination; develop credible, legitimate evidence to support
discrimination complaints; increase the number of complaints referred
to HUD for enforcement; and provide relief to discrimination victims.
Utilizing access to pro bono attorneys from Chicago's most prominent
law firms, as well as their resources, the Chicago Lawyers' Committee
will receive, document, and investigate individual complaints of
discrimination.
Chicago
Jane Addams Hull House Association - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Jane Addams Hull House Association in collaboration with the
Chicago Housing Authority, City College of Chicago, and various
Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) will seek to raise the public's
awareness, particularly among low-income families throughout the
city, about fair housing rights, obligations, and measures for redress.
Association programs will focus on training sessions for FBOs to
increase outreach capacity, dissemination of materials, and assistance
with fair housing complaints.
Chicago
The John Marshall Law School - $273,868
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
John Marshall Law School's Clinic will provide legal representation
to those persons who it determines have meritorious complaints that
can be handled effectively by the Clinic. Maintaining an active
caseload of cases, the Clinic will assist and cooperate with The
John Marshall Law School (JMLS), a Qualified Fair Housing Enforcement
Organization, and the Fair Housing Legal Clinic (Clinic). The project
will focus on communities in the Chicago Metropolitan area, Northwest
Indiana, and on the interrelationships that exists in the communities
of the near West Side, Pilsen/Little Village and Southern Empowerment
Zone communities in the City of Chicago. The Clinic will interview
potential victims of discrimination; analyze housing-related issues;
take complaints; perform testing; evaluate test results; conduct
preliminary investigations and mediation; enforce meritorious claims
through litigation or referral to HUD. The Clinic will also handle
group homes, accessible housing issues, occupancy standards, familial
status, and zoning, especially focusing on housing discrimination
with religion and natural origin.
Chicago
Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Open Communities, in partnership with several faith-based and immigrant
groups, will conduct education and outreach activities to advance
fair housing in the Chicago region for all protected classes, especially
Latino, Arab, Muslim American, and other recent immigrant groups.
In addition to three regional forums for local government officials
and fair housing presentations to Latino or Arab/Muslim affinity
groups, the Leadership Council will produce and/or distribute fair
housing brochures and resource guides. Open communities will also
arrange two media placements and demonstrable fair housing actions
in 15 area communities.
Forest Park
Progress Center for Independent Living - $100,000
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
A consortium of three centers for independent living-Progress Center
for Independent Living (PCIL), the Lake County Center for Independent
Living (LCCIL), and the DuPage Center for Independent Living (DCIL)-will
endeavor to create a wide spread base of knowledge about the Fair
Housing Act. The consortium will conduct educational trainings for
450 area consumers on fair housing laws, particularly as they relate
to people with disabilities, by distributing information about the
project utilizing: public service announcements; media interviews;
strategic advertising in the Chicago metro area mailings to more
than 3,000 disabled individuals; providing information, referrals,
and technical assistance services in English and Spanish via phone,
mail, and e-mail; and setting up methods for referral of complaints
to the appropriate agencies for enforcement. They also plan to conduct
outreach to at least 30 stakeholder groups, with particular attention
to faith-based, immigrant, Latino, and local-governmental organizations;
and provide information, referral, and technical assistance to follow
up on training activities in English and Spanish via phone, mail,
and e-mail for stakeholders who wish to further research the Fair
Housing Act. Consumer outreach, including relationship-building
meetings, will direct particular attention to immigrant and Latino
groups, faith-based organizations and other community service providers.
Homewood
South Suburban Housing Center - $225,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The South Suburban Housing Center (SSHC) will ensure that the housing
markets serving the South Chicago Metropolitan region are open and
free of discriminatory practices to African-Americans, Latinos,
persons with disabilities and all other protected groups who pursue
the dream of a home in these suburban areas. The organization will
also work to establish a Central Illinois Fair Housing Enforcement
Project to begin to meet the neglected needs of this area for fair
housing enforcement monitoring and complaint intake assistance.
SSHC will establish a comprehensive testing program to monitor all
aspects of real estate sales, rental, mortgage lending, and homeowner
insurance practices to detect discrimination against all protected
groups. In addition, SSHC will continue to expand educational outreach
and fair housing enforcement efforts in communities with substantial
concentrations of previously underserved Latino residents, work
directly with disability rights groups, the Wil-Grundy Center for
Independent Living and the Kankakee County Options Center for Independent
Living, to further fair housing protection awareness for person
with disabilities. Finally, the organization will establish a presence
in the small cities and rural areas of the Central Illinois region
to provide basic Fair Housing complaint intake, investigation, monitoring
and mediation assistance to all protected and underserved groups,
and work with community and faith-based groups to develop the local
capacity to meet these needs.
Rockford
Prairie State Legal Services, Inc. - $99,820
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G )
In a 35-county area of northern and central Illinois, excluding
Cook and Will Counties, Prairie State Legal Services will conduct
a multimedia fair housing education and outreach campaign that serves
Spanish-speaking and persons with disabilities and those vulnerable
to discrimination based on gender and family status. More specifically,
the attorneys who operate the project including a blind attorney,
bilingual attorneys, and one who has worked in a rural setting,
have produced several informational materials about the legal aspects
of fair housing. Armed with bilingual materials and a goal of informing
500 persons, the attorneys will deliver bilingual presentations,
distribute literature, and broadcast their message on radio programming
for Spanish-speaking persons. They also will use the Internet to
reach their constituency. This project integrates fair housing information
into Prairie States Legal Services' ongoing legal services system.
Springfield
Statewide Independent Living Council Homeownership - $47,931
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
The Statewide Independent Living Council of Illinois, the lead agency
for the Homeownership Coalition for People with Disabilities, will
promote equal housing opportunity for all the protected classes
under the Federal, State and local Fair Housing laws. Specific project
activities will encompass a six-county area and will involve: conducting
educational seminars in six counties; distributing HUD approved
educational materials, implementing a complaint referral process
for housing discrimination cases; and promoting, more effectively,
fair housing practices within its service area.
Wheaton
HOPE Fair Housing Center - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
HOPE Fair Housing Center will provide four programs serving DuPage
County, Kane County, McHenry County, Western Cook County, and 26
underserved rural counties in Northern and North Central Illinois.
One project will conduct rental tests and non-testing investigations
for enforcement to ensure that participants of the Housing Choice
Voucher Program actually have a choice in housing. In another project,
HOPE will conduct non-testing investigations in the cities of Moline,
Carpentersville, and Rockford to determine if there is discrimination
against minority and new immigrant residents in the enforcement
of housing or property maintenance codes. An additional project
will have HOPE collaborating with social service, legal assistance
agencies, apartment referral services, and civil rights organizations
to open doors to new housing opportunities, and fight on-going racial
and ethnic steering in Western and DuPage Counties. Finally, HOPE
will collaborate with centers serving persons with disabilities
to conduct accessibility tests and tests for persons with disabilities
in underserved and older established cities
Indiana
*National Fair Housing Alliance, Washington, DC - $1,049,622
Fair Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI)
Grant funds will be used by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA)
to establish a new full service organization in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Marion County Center for Housing Opportunities (MCCHO) will
serve all protected classes residing in Marion County, Pike, Washington,
Lawrence, Wayne, Center, Warren, Decatur, Perry, and Franklin townships
with special attention to Latinos and Asians. MCCHO will distribute
bilingual material that addresses rental, sales, lending, and insurance
practices. In addition, MCCHO will leverage its collaboration with
other non-profit and government entities and attorneys to increase
enforcement activities including testing, investigations, and administrative
and legal support. This is a three-year grant.
* Description also listed under District of Columbia
Iowa
Des Moines
Iowa Civil Rights Commission - $98,543
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
Through its "Expanding the Dream-Providing the Tools to Ensure
Sufficient Accessible Housing in Iowa Program", the Iowa Civil
Rights Commission (ICRC) plans to increase the awareness of individuals
with disabilities, their family members, and groups and organizations
who advocate on their behalf regarding housing accessibility, and
to increase the capacity of the Iowa private bar to assist those
who come forward to file fair housing complaints. The applicant
will accomplish this by collaborating with other entities to develop
a consumers' guide to housing accessibility and design. This guide,
which will be published in print and in Braille, via the Internet,
will provide information on what the law requires and options to
consider with respect to housing accessibility. Staff from the ICRC,
in collaboration with staff from Legal Services Corporation of Iowa,
will conduct several workshops that focus on the information outlined
in its aforementioned consumer's guide as well as the fair housing
rights of disabled seniors. A seminar for attorneys in the Volunteer
Lawyers Project will also be conducted, which will endeavor to increase
the capacity of the Iowa private bar to assist victims of housing
discrimination, particularly as it relates to the rights of the
disabled.
Kansas
Wichita
Urban League of Wichita, Inc. - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
With this grant, The Urban League of Wichita will expand and strengthen
its education and outreach activities to help meet the needs of
non-English-speaking immigrants and other protected classes. The
target area consists of 12 counties: nine in southwestern Kansas
and three in south-central Kansas, including the Wichita metropolitan
statistical area (MSA). Counties in the original service area were
Ford, Finney, Seward, and Sedgwick. New counties to which services
are being extended are Butler, Harvey, Gray, Kiowa, Hodgeman, Haskell,
Meade, and Steven. Their inclusion increases the overall target
area from 4 to 12 counties. The Urban League of Wichita plans to
distribute information on the Fair Housing Act; present examples
of discriminatory rental, sales, insurance, and lending practices;
provide lists of local and state agencies that work with HUD to
enforce fair housing laws; encourage complainants to file with HUD;
and reach out to local governments, churches, community organizations,
and groups to promote fair housing seminars, workshops, and conferences.
With this funding, the applicant also will research official records
to determine the frequency and scope of complaints and findings
of bias, and it will maintain easy-to-use complaint filing, referral,
and follow-up procedures.
Kentucky
Lexington
Lexington Fair Housing Council, Inc. - $233,721.65
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Lexington Fair Housing Council will utilize this funding to
continue its strong history of enforcement of federal, state and
local fair housing laws to eradicate housing discrimination through
a continued focus on testing, filing of complaints focusing on reducing
community tension and continuing to refer valid enforcement proposals
to HUD, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission
and the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights.
Louisville
The Kentucky Fair Housing Council - $99,937
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Kentucky Fair Housing Council will publish ten issues of the
Fair Housing Advocate including one issue devoted specifically to
disability and accessibility. In addition, the Council will periodically
report on significant court cases involving predatory lending including
notable settlements and judgments. Also, a significant goal of the
KFHC is to create a major conduit for private and non-profit agencies,
community groups and governmental agencies to share resources and
information about current fair housing events and to distribute
meaningful information to potential victims of housing discrimination.
Louisiana
New Orleans
Acorn Community Land Association of LA - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Louisiana ACORN Fair Housing Organization (LAFHO) promotes fair
housing education and outreach through its service to Indian tribes,
immigrant communities, and residents of rural areas. LAFHO trains
staff, volunteers, and board members and conducts financial justice
fairs and studies that maximize faith- and community-based partnerships.
In addition, LAFHO's referrals to mortgage counselors and sponsorship
of Predatory Lending Community Roundtables link consumers and housing
professionals with information necessary to increase equal housing
opportunities in Southern Louisiana. Maintaining a web site, documenting
impediments to fair housing, and referring residents to HUD augment
the array of outreach and education services LAFHO delivers.
New Orleans
Advocacy Center - $98,425
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
The Advocacy Center proposes to educate individuals with disabilities
in Louisiana, their families, and service providers about all aspects
of rights associated with fair housing. The Advocacy Center will
establish a collaborative network, which includes the Advocacy Center,
the Human Development Center, and the Fair Housing Action Center.
Representatives from these three collaborators, along with a consumer
with a disability, will comprise the project's management team.
The team and staff will complete the following major activities:
catalog existing fair housing education outreach resources; review
fair housing education and outreach materials to determine appropriateness
of use in proposed training curriculum; revise existing and develop
new fair housing resources to meet the fair housing training, accessibility,
and literacy needs of individuals with disabilities, families, and
service providers; recruit trainers from disability advocacy organizations;
conduct four fair housing symposia for the purpose of educating
persons with disabilities, family members and disability service
providers; conduct train-the-trainer sessions to improve the fair
housing training skills of recruited trainers; implement a compliance
system to increase referrals of fair housing complaints regarding
possible discriminatory practices; maintain a website; monitor and
evaluate all project activities; and implement a plan for sustainability
of project activities/resources following the cessation of federal
funding.
New Orleans
Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, Inc. - $274,999
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, Inc. (FHAC)
will concentrate its efforts within the Greater New Orleans area
and will focus on all protected classes in all housing markets.
Services, products, and activities will center on education, testing,
and enforcement and specifically will involve: recruitment and training
of testers for rental, sales, insurance, and lending testing; intake
of new fair housing complaints; systemic investigations to determine
the nature and extent of discrimination against underserved populations;
development and distribution of outreach materials; fair housing
presentations to first-time home buyers and groups serving protected
classes; and, annual Fair Housing Month Summits to focus the community's
attention on fair housing issues.
Maine
Portland
Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Inc. - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Pine Tree seeks to develop a comprehensive education and outreach
program strategically designed to promote activities that enhance
compliance with and enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and equivalent
state and local fair housing laws throughout Maine. The target populations
are urban and rural communities throughout the state, focusing on
three key constituencies: (a) recent immigrants and individuals
with limited English proficiency; (b) people with disabilities,
including both physical and mental health disabilities; and (c)
single-parent households receiving some form of government assistance.
FHIP funding will allow new bilingual materials on fair housing
issues to be added to Pine Tree's online "Learn about Maine
Law" series and to be linked to relevant Websites for other
housing and advocacy organizations. The funding also will allow
Pine Tree to create a new listserv for social services and agency
staff members who work with client populations affected by fair
housing issues. In collaboration with community partners and appropriate
state agencies, a series of workshops will cover fair housing mandates
and housing market norms to help consumers recognize and report
abusive and intimidating behaviors by unscrupulous landlords and
other real estate industry members. Finally, Pine Tree will establish
a speakers' bureau to give presentations (upon request) on federal
and state fair housing laws.
Massachusetts
Boston
Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston - $274,995
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston (FHCGB) will provide Fair
Housing enforcement activities in the Greater Boston area. Activities
will include in-take, investigation and testing of complaints, development
of systemic cases, recruitment and training of testers, and a legal
seminar for cooperating attorneys to investigate and litigate individual
and systematic cases. The agency anticipates conducting a number
of rental and sales tests. The FHCGB will use 5% of its allocated
funds for education and outreach activities. These funds will be
used for educational activities designed to increase the awareness
of potential housing discrimination victims. The project's educational
efforts will specifically address the underserved population of
first time homebuyers, people who are homeless, and non-English
speaking immigrants. The project will direct media efforts, community
educational campaigns, and enforcement efforts toward these protected
classes.
Michigan
Detroit
Detroit Alliance for Fair Banking - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G
The Detroit Alliance for Fair Banking (DAFB) will supplement and
expand its education and outreach activities to businesses and individual
consumers throughout the City of Detroit¾including Detroit's
Empowerment Zone. DAFB will expand the reach of its most popular
workshops: "Don't Borrow Trouble", "Financial Literacy
Education," and "Mortgage Qualification." Education
efforts will focus on the Fair Housing Act, and other federal financial
regulations, as well as the roles of the agencies that govern fair
housing and credit. Specifically, DAFB will expand its efforts to
educate consumers on the home-buying process, how to recognize predatory
lending practices, and how to file complaints of discriminatory
housing practices.
Minnesota
Minneapolis
Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing - $99,998
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH) will
partner with four community-based organizations serving immigrants,
refugees and underserved communities and will establish the Comadres
Project which will seek to empower grassroots leaders to provide
outreach and education on fair housing issues and concerns to these
communities in order to effectively address their fair housing issues
and concerns and reduce the incidence of housing discrimination.
The Comadres Project will provide outreach and education to the
grassroots leadership structure of these groups to overcome discrimination
and other barriers that prevent them from securing safe and affordable
housing. MICAH will also conduct a comprehensive outreach and education
campaign to raise awareness of fair housing issues within the immigrant,
refugee and underserved populations. Finally, MICAH will develop
fair housing advocacy strategies through the grassroots leadership
of these protected groups to reduce the incidence of housing discrimination.
St. Paul
Acorn Housing Corporation - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Through this project, ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC), in partnership
with ACORN Fair Housing (AFH), will increase compliance with the
Fair Housing Act by conducting public outreach and education, performing
intensive Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and other data analysis and
mapping, investigating reverse redlining and illegal practices among
predatory lenders, and referring complaints to HUD, the Department
of Justice, state and local agencies, and/or private attorneys.
This project will be implemented in HUD's Minnesota region, specifically
in the Minneapolis and St. Paul neighborhoods with large numbers
of African Americans as well as recent immigrants from Southeast
Asia, Africa, and Latin America. ACORN will use research tools to
identify the abusive lending practices most often used in these
locations, and then go "on the ground" to educate the
public about these practices and the rights afforded to them under
the Fair Housing Act. ACORN will also assist people in filing complaints.
St. Paul
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, Inc. - $184,358
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, Inc., (SMRLS) will build
on its current fair housing enforcement efforts as a Fair Housing
Organization providing enforcement services to underserved, low-income
protected class populations including, but not limited to: a variety
of refugee and immigrant populations; low-income populations of
color concentrated and segregated in economically impoverished pockets
of larger urban areas; homeless persons of color and homeless persons
with mental or other impairments; and migrant farm workers seasonally
residing throughout Minnesota and in the Red River Valley of North
Dakota. Some of the organization's project activities will include:
outreach to the aforementioned populations; pursuit of enforcement
complaints of discriminatory actions, practices, and polices; implement
a metropolitan Action Guide addressing identified impediments to
fair housing; and, more particularly, to establish a metro-wide
fair housing testing program.
Mississippi
Biloxi
South Mississippi Legal Services Corporation - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
South Mississippi Legal Services Corporation (SMLSC) will coordinate
a statewide, community-based, outreach campaign to increase awareness
of fair housing laws and the availability of remedies for fair housing
violations. SMLSC provides outreach to 12 counties, all of which
are rural except one. With its partners, SMLSC will conduct seminars
in communities and distribute fair housing materials through its
client counseling network and collaborative channels.
Missouri
St. Louis
Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council -
$274,994.42
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council (EHOC)
proposes to identify violations of fair housing laws and assist
home seekers of all protected classes in enforcing their fair housing
rights. The project will serve counties in Southern Illinois and
Eastern Missouri and will involve: investigating complaints of discrimination;
conducting rental, sales, and lending tests; conducting a lending
audit of predatory lending tests; distributing and posting to the
Internet a quarterly newsletter, OPEN DOORS; initiating fair housing
counseling/intake sessions for immigrant groups, disability groups,
and residents of homeless shelters; conducting an annual public
press briefing of fair housing practices in the region; and sponsoring
a day-long fair housing conference for housing providers, public
officials, advocates, and the general public
Montana
Missoula
Montana Fair Housing, Inc. - $259,481
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Montana Fair Housing, a qualified fair housing organization in Montana,
provides full services for victims of housing discrimination in
the state. This project will provide fair housing services for the
entire state of Montana, and will include education, outreach, and
complaint-based enforcement. Specifically, Montana Fair Housing,
Inc. will receive and track complaints; recruit and train 10 new
testers; complete several complaint-based paired rental tests and
paired tests focusing on discrimination in lending, sales, and insurance
practices; refer enforcement proposals to HUD; make presentation
to at least four churches or places of worship on fair housing laws;
and continue its current education and outreach activities.
Nebraska
Omaha
Family Housing Advisory Services, Inc. - $254,457
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Family Housing Advisory Services, Inc. (FHAS) will engage in
a variety of tasks aimed at expanding its current enforcement activities.
Services will be directed to residents in urban and rural portions
of Nebraska and Western Iowa. Although all protected classes will
be covered, FHAS' project will emphasize national origin as a protected
class, giving special emphasis to Hispanic residents and others
with limited or no English skills. Specific undertakings will include:
matched pair systemic fair housing tests; collaborative efforts
with key faith-based and grassroots community organizations; reviews
of mortgage loans to determine the presence of predatory lending
practices; and, services in Spanish that include a toll-free hotline.
Nevada
Reno
Silver State Fair Housing Council - $265,014
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Silver State Fair Housing Council (SSFHC), a Qualified Fair Housing
Organization, will undertake several activities targeted to all
protected classes, but will place special emphasis on underserved
rural communities, national origin and religion issues, and the
fair housing rights of persons with disabilities. Specifically,
SSFHC will conduct paired rental site tests and paired rental phone
tests; recruit and train new housing discrimination testers; conduct
complaint intake, assessment, and referral for all residents of
northern Nevada; develop housing discrimination claims using testing,
property and corporate searches, site visits and surveys, witness
interviews, building permit research, and expert reports, as needed;
refer all bona fide claims to HUD, and assist in reasonable accommodation/modification
requests. In addition, SSFHC will raise public awareness of fair
housing and SSFHC services through seminars, newsletters, advertising,
and the Internet.
New Hampshire
Manchester
New Hampshire Legal Assistance - $258,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Through this grant, the New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA) Fair
Housing Project (FHP) will hire a Testing/Program Coordinator/Paralegal
who will focus on test coordination, tester recruitment and training,
and program coordination and support. The grant will support the
FHP to carry out fair housing activities, both statewide and in
the four-county target area where concentrations of protected class
members exist. Activities to be undertaken include: a testing program,
community education initiatives, community-based intakes, and community
partnerships to further equal access to housing. The FHP will also
distribute, in four languages, written material on Fair Housing
Laws and will coordinate a forum of community, business, and government
leaders to evaluate predatory lending practices in New Hampshire.
New Jersey
Hackensack
Citizen Action of New Jersey - $88,378.62
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Citizen Action of New Jersey (CANJ) conducts a campaign that focuses
on educating residents and community leaders about predatory lending
practices. Specifically, low- and moderate-income and disabled residents
in Essex County receive information about these discriminatory lending
practices. CANJ conducts bilingual consumer and community leader
workshops on recognizing and enforcing protections against unfair
lending and throughout the County, CANJ presents train-the-trainer
workshops that instruct workers on teaching clients to identify,
screen, and report fair lending complaints. Its media campaign consists
of print and broadcast announcements and victim training to become
media spokespersons against predatory lending
Hackensack
Fair Housing Council of Northern New Jersey - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Council of Northern New Jersey (the Council) is
a full-service agency that carries out fair housing testing activities
statewide. The Council's clients include: persons with disabilities;
persons of color; religious, ethnic, and racial minorities; and
all individuals and families covered under Federal and state fair
housing laws. Through this grant, the Council will engage in the
following enforcement and educational activities: sales/rental testing;
investigation of complaints of discrimination; referral of all FHIP
funded complaints to HUD; recruitment and training of new testers
to add to the current testing pool; and, promotion of the program.
New Mexico
Albuquerque
Legal Aid Society of Albuquerque, Inc. - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Project of the Legal Aid Society of Albuquerque,
Inc. (LASA) will expand its efforts to address the needs of severely
underserved communities in southeastern New Mexico, including the
recent immigrant communities in the Colonias, and to provide services
in the central New Mexico region, Santa Fe and Doña Ma Counties.
Specifically, the LASA will also increase its accessibility through
developing a web site, establishing a statewide toll-free Fair Housing/Fair
Lending hotline, and expanding and distributing the Renter's Guide/Guia
para Renteros. In addition, LASA anticipates building upon its established
LASA rental testing program by developing a lender testing program
to address the fair housing needs of both renters and homebuyers.
Santa Fe
City of Santa Fe - $98,889.95
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Santa Fe Fair Housing Project ("Fair Housing Project"),
the current FHIP-funded project addresses the city's most significant
impediment to fair housing - the lack of fair housing services.
This application proposes the continuation of the current FHIP-funded
program and outlines outreach activities to address growing housing
discrimination in our community, particularly that which affects
Spanish speaking immigrants and persons experiencing discrimination
because of the September 11th attack. In its second year, the project
will continue to focus on increasing public awareness about housing
discrimination, providing referrals and remedies for persons experiencing
discrimination and promoting accessible, affordable housing choices
on a region-wide basis.
New York
Bronx
Bronx Independent Living Services, Inc. - $100,000
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
Bronx Independent Living Services (BILS), a cross-disability, consumer-controlled
Independent Living Center, will initiate a program of education
and outreach concerning fair housing rights and responsibilities,
with an emphasis on those regarding people with disabilities. BILS'
staff consists predominately of people with disabilities and/or
people of color, many who have personally experienced discrimination.
Project activities will include identifying the best existing education
materials on fair housing and adapting them for people in the Bronx,
conducting outreach in English and Spanish to the general public
and to people with disabilities about the nature of housing discrimination
against people with disabilities and how to prevent or stop it;
educating our target population using materials and content tailored
to each subgroup; and refining a referral process that will enable
the organization to identify and refer consumers with credible claims
of housing discrimination to HUD and other fair housing enforcement
agencies. The project will target Bronx residents who have disabilities
and others who are covered by the Fair Housing Act and its state
and local counterparts; trade associations for housing-related professions,
such as building owners and managers, real estate brokers, mortgage
lenders, home insurance agents; attorneys from Legal Aid, Legal
Services, the Bar Association; and, Community Boards in the Bronx.
Buffalo
Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Inc. - $247,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Through this grant, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Inc. (HOME)
will conduct a variety of activities specifically aimed at combating
housing discrimination in the Buffalo Niagara region. The activities
include, but are not limited to, conducting outreach presentations
for organizations that serve new immigrants, potential victims of
religious and national origin discrimination; persons with disabilities,
and the homeless; publishing informational brochures in English
and Arabic; conducting intake of discrimination allegations; testing
of rental complexes and real estate firms; conducting accessibility
tests; and mediating and conciliating validated cases of housing
discrimination.
New York City
Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy - 100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP) will
extend its fair housing education and outreach campaign to the Bronx,
which supplements its existing outreach in Brooklyn and Queens.
With an emphasis on predatory lending, NEDAP maintains mapping and
other reporting tools to monitor lending patterns and identify possible
violations of fair housing regulations. NEDAP will link with current
and potential homeowners through a hotline, e-mail address, and
community presentations. In its on-going collaboration with community,
ethnic, and faith-based and legal groups, combined with media coverage,
NEDAP will inform groups, especially the elderly-disabled, senior
and immigrant populations, including Asian Americans, about mortgage
discrimination and other barriers to homeownership. NEDAP will conduct
workshops with bank examiners and government employees to educate
them about discriminatory housing patterns and practices.
Rochester
Housing Council in the Monroe County Area, Inc. - $99,728
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Housing Council (Council) will emphasize its education and outreach
activities toward improving housing opportunities for racial and
ethnic minorities, new immigrants, residents of underserved rural
areas, and persons with disabilities. The Council's goal is to increase
the number of complaints resulting from heightened awareness of
the barriers to fair housing choices. With faith-based organizations,
they will employ "Train the Trainer" sessions with clergy
and church leadership to multiply capacity by engaging congregations
in workshops. In partnership with Wayne County, customized curricula
will be tailoring instructions to elected officials and planning
board members in rural areas. Advertising and maintenance of a hotline
represent an ongoing resource for information, counseling, publications,
and case management to consumers, particularly complainants and
those residing in rural communities. Finally, classes geared toward
realtors designed to enhance their knowledge of fair housing laws,
penalties, and the compliance process complement community-based,
multilingual consumer workshops.
Rochester
Monroe County Legal Assistance Corp. - $274,944
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Enforcement Project (FHEP) is a partnership project
between Rochester Center for Independent Living (RCIL), a disability
advocacy group, and the Monroe County Legal Assistance Corporation
(MCLAC), a public interest law firm that administers the project,
which seeks to reduce illegal discrimination in housing transactions.
The Project will work to prevent future fair housing discrimination
in Monroe County, an urban/rural county of 735,000 people in upstate
New York and five rural counties, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, Wayne
and Yates, an underserved area of 316,280 people. Monroe County
includes the City of Rochester and twenty-nine surrounding rural
and suburban towns. The Project will perform fair housing tests,
a few of which will be targeted to housing discrimination in the
rural counties. In addition, the Project will file enforcement actions
in order to (1) curtail violations of the Fair Housing laws, and
(2) obtain remedies from housing providers who violate the law.
MCLAC will increase the number of referrals to HUD from the rural
counties through increased enforcement activities, including (1)
generating complaints, (2) auditing potential violators, (3) investigating
complaints in a timely fashion, (4) assessing appropriate remedies,
if any, and (5) enforcing Fair Housing laws through complaints filed
with HUD and in federal court.
Syracuse
Fair Housing Council of CNY, Inc. - $271,895
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Council of Central New York, Inc., a qualified
fair housing enforcement organization, will initiate a broad-based
and full-service project to help ensure equal housing opportunities
throughout upstate New York. The project will focus on new immigrants
and non-English speaking populations in select areas. Persons with
disabilities and ethnic and religious minorities will also be targeted.
The organization will carry out tester training sessions; rental,
sales, and lending tests; complaint intake; and, investigation of
cases as warranted. In addition, the organization will investigate
predatory lending practices and will promote awareness of the project
through educational workshops within the service area.
North Carolina
Asheville
Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council - $272,879
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council in partnership with
sub-grantee Pisgah Legal Services (PLS), sub-grantee N.C. Fair Housing
Center, and the Affordable Housing Coalition of Asheville and Buncombe
County will focus on housing discrimination in fifteen, predominantly
rural counties (Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Henderson, Haywood,
Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania,
Yaney Counties) serving African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos,
persons with disabilities and other minorities. ABCRC and PLS will
emphasize investigation of discrimination cases arising in the public
and private rental markets and in the mortgage lending market. Investigation
and enforcement efforts will be closely coordinated between the
two agencies.
North Dakota
Bismarck
North Dakota Fair Housing Council - $273,810
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The North Dakota Fair Housing Council (NDFHC) is the only fair housing
organization in North and South Dakota. Its goal is to strengthen
enforcement activities in the project area through testing and other
investigation methods and the filing of administrative and judicial
fair housing cases. Specifically NDFHC will: conduct complaint-based,
paired rental tests of the housing market; litigate fair housing
complaints; distribute PSAs and newsletters; coordinate a town hall
meeting to discuss religious and national origin discrimination;
conduct fair housing workshops for consumers and providers; engage
in outreach activities; and locate fair housing materials that have
been produced in Spanish for distribution.
Ohio
Columbus
Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) will
conduct a statewide campaign to dismantle barriers to homeownership,
with special attention to the elderly, low-income, and minority
populations. A recent study cited the Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria area
as the metropolitan area with the highest incidence of subprime
home refinance loans in the state. However, because the percentages
are comparably high throughout the state, COHHIO will concentrate
on mortgage lending discrimination and abusive or predatory mortgage
lending practices in its fair housing awareness campaign. COHHIO
will use seminars and forums, materials, and direct assistance to
support organizations and service providers to promote awareness
and empowerment among its underserved population.
Toledo
Toledo Fair Housing Center. - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Toledo Fair Housing Center (FHC) will provide comprehensive
services, which will include intake, investigation, and resolution
of complaints from all segments of the housing industry: rental,
sales, lending, appraisal, insurance, zoning, new construction,
rehab, and advertising. Five components-Victims' Assistance, Complaint
Investigation, Outreach to Underserved Populations, Monitoring,
and Prevention-comprise the FHC's proposed project, which will place
special emphasis on immigrant issues, particularly with regard to
the local Hispanic community.
Oklahoma
Tulsa
Housing Partners of Tulsa, Inc. - $60,921
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Housing Partners of Tulsa, Inc., proposes to create a Fair Housing
Coordinator position in order to coordinate with the Tulsa Area
Fair Housing Partnership in implementing a comprehensive, precisely
targeted fair housing educational campaign over the course of twelve
months. The Fair Housing Coordinator will counsel individuals and
groups of both housing professionals and private citizens, in a
variety of contexts. Moreover, the Coordinator will conduct a carefully
targeted media campaign to educate the public about fair housing
concerns. Finally, the Coordinator will serve as a highly visible
point of first contact for housing discrimination complaints. These
complaints will be processed by the City of Tulsa's Department of
Human Rights. Through this project, Housing Partners of Tulsa, Inc.,
will educate the citizens of Tulsa, Oklahoma, about housing discrimination
and increase the efficiency of complaint enforcement investigations,
thereby reducing incidence of housing discrimination in the community
over the long term.
Oregon
Portland
Fair Housing Council of Oregon - $274,464
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
During the grant period, Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO) will
evaluate several complaints of illegal housing discrimination received
over its toll free hotline. FHCO will perform several complaint-driven
tests and audit tests of the homeowners' insurance and mortgage
lending markets (for discrimination) and new rental construction
and design (for accessibility). FHCO will also assist callers with
disabilities who need guidance on requesting a reasonable accommodation.
FHCO will focus its outreach efforts on Latino, Middle Eastern,
Russian, Asian and other immigrant and refugee communities as well
as Oregon's rural communities. FHCO will provide culturally appropriate
contact to these communities using bilingual and bicultural staff
or contract with language and culturally appropriate interpreters.
FHCO will also recruit and train 12 new testers from the Latino,
Russian, Asian, and Middle Eastern communities.
Portland
Legal Aid Services of Oregon - $99,908
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
With this grant, Legal Aid Services of Oregon (LASO) in partnership
with the Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO) plans to perform
education and outreach activities in Oregon. Project activities
will help immigrant communities, people with disabilities, and residents
of rural communities in Oregon (as well as the agency staff members
and housing providers who serve these populations) to understand
fair housing rights and responsibilities. Special focus will be
placed on increasing the understanding and awareness of predatory
lending issues among attorneys throughout Oregon. Another objective
is to provide organizations with linguistic and culturally appropriate
translation services, thus enabling them to conduct training sessions
in languages other than English. The project will present four one-and-a-half
day workshops in Klamath Falls, Bend, La Grande, and Ashland, presented
in person by LASO and FHCO staff: "Fair Housing/Predatory Lending
for Consumers and Their Advocates," "Fair Housing for
Public and Private Housing Providers," "Fair Housing Law/Predatory
Lending Issues for Attorneys," and "Fair Housing for Faith-Based
and Community Organizations." Videotapes of training sessions
will be made available to those unable to attend the workshops in
person. Outreach will include the media, personal contacts, and
the distribution of materials.
Pennsylvania
Glenside
Fair Housing Council of Montgomery County - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Fair Housing Council of Montgomery County (Council) conducts
a fair housing campaign that serves individuals residing in Montgomery
County and the Philadelphia metropolitan region, especially the
County residents who are homeless, disabled, or immigrants. The
Council provides training in the community to staff and consumers
to promote access to homeownership, facilitate referrals for housing
discrimination, and inform individuals about germane topics such
as predatory lending and fair housing protections for victims of
hate crimes. Collaboration with community-based partners includes
establishment of a housing counselor position and ongoing links
with direct service staff, counselors, and local government personnel.
In addition, the Council aims to increase the community's awareness
of housing laws and remedies, including enforcement protections.
Pittsburgh
Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh, Inc. - $274,997
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh Inc.'s (FHP)
principal mission is "to eliminate housing discrimination and
to promote Fair Housing in the Greater Pittsburgh area." The
project will recruit and train new testers as its complaint-based
program is augmented with a growing systemic testing program. It
will also provide resources for legal assistance to victims of housing
discrimination, and will continue to directly represent victims
of discrimination while recruiting and training attorneys for its
Panel of Cooperating Attorneys. The revolving litigation fund will
provide for clients who cannot afford litigation costs. In addition,
FHP will provide education about the Federal, State and local fair
housing laws. FHP will continue its current policy of monthly workshops
to local advocacy and community groups, and will build on its contacts
in outlying communities to establish a broader presence in the Greater
Pittsburgh Metropolitan area.
Wilkinsburg
TRCIL Services, Inc. - $ 40,218
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
Three Rivers Center for Independent Living (TRCIL) through its service
subsidiary, TRCIL Services, Inc. intends to provide Fair Housing
education and outreach to residents of Allegheny County in Southwestern
Pennsylvania, with an emphasis on persons with disabilities. TRCIL
Services, Inc.'s approach will be to create and connect networks
to advocates; share and disseminate information; train and educate;
and provide access to services, resources, and technical assistance
for people with disabilities. Specifically, TRCIL Services, Inc.
will conduct educational symposia on a variety of topics, including
home ownership opportunities, and Fair Housing Act rights and responsibilities;
provide outreach to people with disabilities, their support organizations,
housing providers, and the general public regarding rights of people
with disabilities under the act; develop a HUD complaint referral
process and become a point of contact for people with disabilities
with any housing needs; and, continue to advocate homeownership
with fair housing, universal design, and visitability for people
with disabilities. TRCIL Services, Inc. will partner with Fair Housing
Partnership of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in offering its services
Rhode Island
Providence
Rhode Island Legal Services, Inc. - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Rhode Island Legal Services (RILS) will conduct a statewide campaign
to educate residents about fair housing rights and remedies, with
a special emphasis on resident groups most at-risk for housing discrimination,
such as non-English speaking immigrants, the disabled, and religious,
racial, and ethnic minorities. Information will be disseminated
through pamphlets produced in three languages, exhibits, seminars,
and web sites. Community workers will receive training to become
ongoing resources within their communities. In conjunction with
its partners, RILS will host a statewide conference and refer cases
to HUD.
South Carolina
Greenville
Greenville County Human Relations Commission - $85,936
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Greenville County Human Relations Commission (GCHRC) provides
fair housing services and outreach to people in a four-county area
in upstate South Carolina. With the requested funding, GCHRC will
be able to increase its coverage of fair housing issues in all of
the areas it serves, especially among low-to-moderate income families,
the disabled, and immigrant populations. Together with Catholic
Charities/Piedmont Deanery, GCHRC will conduct targeted fair housing
outreach to new immigrant populations. GCHRC will hire a part-time
fair housing education coordinator to develop and maintain a speakers'
bureau of fair housing education volunteers. GCHRC will focus on
reaching every community in Greenville County through numerous speaking
and education outreach engagements. The fair housing education coordinator
will conduct a countywide literature canvas in which bilingual fair
housing materials (posters and brochures) with a local slant will
be developed and distributed to existing partners for dissemination
to the general public.
Tennessee
Jackson
West Tennessee Legal Services, Inc. $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS) will provide broad-based fair
housing enforcement services to all protected classes in all markets.
The project places special emphasis upon education and enforcement
service delivery to underserved populations, protected class members
among immigrant populations (especially racial and ethnic minorities
who are non-English speaking and limited English proficiency), rural
populations, persons with disabilities, and homeless persons. Specifically,
the WTLS will conduct investigations of systemic complaints in all
markets and provide other support for administrative and judicial
enforcement; analyze appropriate data of statewide banks serving
rural areas to determine discriminatory and/or predatory lending;
engage in complaint resolution/mediation; present seminars, conduct
training, and distribute literature in efforts to increase stakeholders'
awareness of fair housing laws; and, administer a revolving litigation
fund.
Nashville
Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency - $98,683.29
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency will utilize FHIP
funds to continue its mission to provide educate and outreach to
the Nashville community on issues surrounding fair housing and housing
consumerism. MDHA's target population will be housing-consumers
and housing-providers, especially non-English speaking individuals.
MDHA's goal is to sponsor a fair housing conference and at least
six community forums, distribute fair housing literature, provide
a website with information on how to file fair housing complaints,
and to provide fair housing presentations to elementary and high
school students.
Texas
Austin
Austin Tenant's Council, Inc. - $258,971
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Austin Tenants' Council (ATC) will provide testing and legal
resources in support of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968,
as amended by the Fair Housing Act of 1988. This project will heighten
public awareness of the continued effects of housing discrimination
in the Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area and will focus specifically
on issues surrounding the housing rights of disabled persons and
the rights of recent immigrants to the United States. Principal
activities will include: promoting fair housing and the availability
of ATC's services through mass media; providing intake and referral
of fair housing complaints; facilitating requests from persons with
disabilities for reasonable accommodation and/or modification; and,
conducting a variety of tests to ascertain compliance with fair
housing laws.
Dallas
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Dallas - $ 50,470.14
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Consumer Credit Counseling Services - Dallas' (CCCS) fair housing
education and outreach project will target and educate immigrant
populations (especially racial and ethnic minorities who are not
English-speaking or have limited English proficiency), older, and
disabled Americans to provide information about their fair housing
rights. The outcome of these two strategic efforts is to aid immigrants,
low-income minorities, the elderly and people with disabilities
ensuring that they do not become victims of unfair treatment or
discrimination when renting or buying a home. To reach these target
constituents, CCCS will enhance and continue building existing programs
and relationships with churches, faith-based organization, senior
centers, community service organizations, businesses, colleges/universities,
schools and English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) programs.
Garland
City of Garland - $100,000
Education and Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The Garland Office of Fair Housing proposes to expand its FHIP program
to include concentrated education and outreach to a) disabled individuals,
b) homeowners who may have been subjected to predatory lending practices
by housing investors who sell their properties to unsuspecting buyers
under a "contract for deed" arrangement, and c) persons
from other countries who may be threatened by anti-Arab or anti-Muslim
sentiments after the September 11 terrorist attacks. General education
and outreach will also be conducted through its regional media campaign,
"Garland: Where Fair Means Fair," to all members of the
identified protected classes. Special efforts will be made to provide
information in accessible format to the limited-English proficient
about housing rights. The program's goal is to reach 35,000 residents
through exhaustive information and concentrated education about
specific acts that may be violations of the Fair Housing Act. The
mission is to educate citizens on Fair Housing laws and to eliminate
housing discrimination.
Vermont
Burlington
Champlain Valley O.E.O, Inc. - $245,427
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Serving the state of Vermont, the Champlain Valley O.E. O, Inc.
(CVOEO) Fair Housing Project will link its education, outreach,
and enforcement programs to previous work done by the Vermont Human
Rights Commission in an effort to guarantee that Vermont's housing
resources will be available to everyone. The mutual effort -
promised by the award of this grant - will move CVOEO closer
to becoming a sustainable Fair Housing Organization with anticipated
State and private funding in subsequent years. FHP continues a vital
process aimed at providing services for victims of housing discrimination,
implementing strategies to prevent future discrimination, as well
as developing a lasting capacity to consistently strive for open
housing for all residents.
Virginia
Charlottesville
Piedmont Housing Alliance - $66,655
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
Piedmont Housing Alliance (the Alliance) will coordinate a campaign
to educate individuals in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District
about fair housing. Of particular interest are low- to moderate-income
and disabled individuals, and recent immigrants. The wide array
of educational materials, including train-the-trainer and monthly
predatory lending workshops, ads, articles, and a web site will
help ensure ongoing outreach to consumers and partners of the Alliance.
The Alliance will distribute materials in five languages and develop
a Predatory Lending Remediation Loan Product, and sponsor a summit
representing three vehicles by which the Alliance teams with immigration
advocacy groups, housing providers, credit counselors, architects,
and others to raise awareness about housing and compliance issues,
including accessibility requirements. The volunteer training initiative,
in conjunction with faith-based organizations, will serve the dual
function of informing congregations while urging them to solicit
the participation of their national offices, and thus multiply the
impact of this public awareness project.
Norfolk
Endependence Center, Inc. - $100,000
Education and Outreach-Disability (EOI-D)
Project FAIR (Fair housing Act training for Individual
Rights) will be operated by the Endependence Center, Inc.
(ECI) in collaboration with 16 Centers for Independent Living (CIL)
located in Abingdon, Arlington, Charlottesville, Danville, Exmore,
Fredericksburg, Grundy, Hampton, Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, Manassas,
Norfolk, Pennington Gap, Richmond, Roanoke, and Winchester, Virginia.
ECI will provide a statewide training of project staff from the
16 CILs, during which all aspects of the Fair Housing Act (FHA)
will be covered and attendees instructed in the provisions of the
FHA as they apply to all classes covered by the Act. Furthermore,
74 local FHA trainings will be conducted by the CILs, with each
CIL being required to conduct at least four of these trainings that
should average approximately 25 attendees per session. ECI will
develop a complaint referral process that will include a variety
of elements. In addition, CILs will report the number of new housing
units created locally as a result of project activities.
Washington
Seattle
International District Housing Alliance - $100,000
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
The International District Housing Alliance (IDHA) is the lead and
fiscal agent for the New Americans Homebuyer's Partnership; a collaborative
between three community-based organizations to actively work closely
together to provide fair housing outreach and education to all protected
classes, particularly the underserved immigrant and refugee population
in the greater Seattle area. The IDHA also has bilingual staff representation.
The activities to be conducted by this alliance include: formulating
and conducting fair housing seminars; disseminating fair housing
literature to residents on housing discrimination, including predatory
lending; having the Human Rights Commission and The Office of Civil
Rights train staff on complaint referrals and fair housing advocacy
activities; and providing fair housing counseling. General education
and outreach will also be conducted through a joint regional media
campaign.
Spokane
Northwest Fair Housing Alliance - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Northwest Fair Housing Alliance (NWFHA) seeks funding to carry
out fair housing enforcement activities in eastern and central Washington,
with special emphasis on providing these services to immigrants
who speak little or no English and who reside in underserved cities
and rural areas. Under the proposed project, NWFHA will use its
established base of contacts along with the multi-lingual fair housing
outreach materials produced under its current FHIP partnership,
to expand and enhance effective fair housing enforcement services
for these immigrant populations. NWFHA will also employ testing
and other investigative techniques to equip victims of discrimination
with knowledge and information needed to file meritorious fair housing
claims with HUD and the Washington State Human Rights Commission.
Tacoma
Fair Housing Center of South Puget Sound - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Center of South Puget Sound (Fair Housing Center)
proposes to utilize grant funds to serve Western and Central Washington
to investigate and file individual complaints and measure the degree
of systemic discrimination relating to national origin. In addition,
the Fair Housing Center will expand services to migrant populations
and faith-based organizations throughout the service area. To achieve
its goals, the Fair Housing Center will: provide intake and investigation
of complaints; conduct paired rental and sales tests as well as
systemic audits; recruit and train new testers; expand education
and outreach to protected classes as well as to migrant farm worker
populations and faith-based organizations; collaborate with other
FHIP/FHAP agencies statewide on Fair Housing Month Activities; and
write and publish a statewide newsletter on fair housing.
Wisconsin
Milwaukee
Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, Inc. - $275,000
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council (MMFHC) will conduct
coordinated statewide and regional enforcement activities for the
purpose of identifying and eliminating discriminatory housing practices.
These activities will be primarily implemented in 10 Wisconsin counties
through the linkages between MMFHC and its satellite offices in
Dane County and Northeast Wisconsin. Through funding under this
grant, MMFHC will conduct a multi-jurisdictional investigation in
Wisconsin of systemic forms of discrimination in the sales market
against Latinos, Southeast Asians and African Americans; conduct
intake of predatory lending practices; participate in a multi-city
investigation of predatory lending practices; and refer complaints
to HUD, other administrative agencies, and/or attorneys to increase
enforcement actions and eliminate illegal housing discrimination.
Milwaukee
United Migrant Opportunity Services, Inc. - $99,999
Education and Outreach-General (EOI-G)
United Migrant Opportunity Services, Inc. (UMOS) provides fair housing
outreach and education services to migrant farm and cannery workers
in South Dakota and Minnesota. This project will address illegal
housing discrimination through education and outreach activities
by collaborating with an effective and experienced fair housing
organization, utilizing developed and proven strategies that will
be adapted for use with the identified population. Through education
and outreach, the project will teach migrants, Hispanics, and other
disadvantaged people (especially Middle Easterners of the Muslim
faith) about fair housing laws and procedures and how to file fair
housing claims with HUD. UMOS also will develop a fair housing enforcement
referral network, develop a regional complaint tracking system to
assure follow-through on complaints, and create a regional outreach
and education program utilizing a standardized format for counseling
and referral. As part of its "Best Practices" report,
UMOS will produce a manual for distribution on fair housing and
outreach and education initiatives
Wyoming
Casper
Wyoming Fair Housing, Inc. - $198,185
Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
Wyoming Fair Housing, Inc. is a full service, nonprofit fair housing
organization that is dedicated to affirmatively furthering fair
housing activities in the State of Wyoming. This project will address
and assist in the elimination of the impediments to fair housing
outlined in the State of Wyoming's 1997 Analysis of Impediments
to fair housing choice, such as the application of different terms
and conditions and disparate treatment of protected class members.
These impediments will be reduced by enforcement activities, particularly
investigation of allegations of discrimination and education and
outreach activities. Implementation of this project will provide
fair housing services for the entire State of Wyoming. Wyoming Fair
Housing, Inc. will; (1) receive and track complaints, (2) recruit
and train new testers, (3) complete complaint-based, paired rental
tests; and paired tests focusing on discrimination in mortgage/lending,
sales and insurance practices, (4) refer enforcement proposals to
HUD as supported by preliminary evidence, and (5) continue education
and outreach activities.
Content Archived: April 9, 2010
![[logo: Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity]](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130215060152im_/http://archives.hud.gov/images/fheo50.gif){kind=small}