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FHEO 2007 News Archive


	Information by State

FHEO NEWS

January 2007	FHEO Signs Conciliation Agreement with the Nashua Housing Authority (NHA) resolving a complaint alleging that the NHA in Boston, MA did not provide meaningful Spanish language access, causing a miscommunication about the complainant family's income which resulted in a rent dispute. Under the agreement, NHA has agreed to pay the amount of rent underpaid by the family and their attorneys fees and provide training on LEP obligations as well as draft a written LEP Plan within 60 days of the agreement. Read the conciliation agreement. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida entered a consent decree resolving United States v. Gainesville Housing Authority, et al. The defendants were charged in violation of the Fair Housing Act for refusing to grant reasonable accommodation requests for physical disabilities. Under the terms of the consent decree, the defendants agreed to pay $50,000 to the complainants, implement complaint policies and procedures, undergo fair housing training, and submit periodic reports.
February 2007	FHEO and HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) recently issued a joint memorandum reminding Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and State Block Grant recipients of the statutory requirement to promote fair housing. The memo provides guidance on how they may use administrative and program funds to meet their obligation to identify and address obstacles to fair housing choice within their areas. Read a copy of the joint memo. HUD has published guidance in the Federal Register to assist housing providers in ensuring that people with limited English proficiency (LEP) have equal access to housing. View the press release for more information.
March 2007	HUD Signs Voluntary Compliance Agreement (VCA) with the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA) to resolve findings of non-compliance with Section 504 following an on-site compliance review. Some of the major provisions include: the hiring of a Section 504/ADA Coordinator to coordinate AHA’s compliance with Section 504 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act; by March 2011, AHA will construct or rehabilitate at least 310 accessible units, representing 5 percent of AHA’s 6,181 total public housing units. In addition, AHA will make sure that all common areas, AHA programs and administrative offices are accessible to people with disabilities. Read the VCA in its entirety. A New Jersey apartment owner and property manager agree to settle a disability discrimination complaint by paying $10,000 to a disabled resident who claimed that his request for an indoor parking space within a short distance of his apartment was refused. Read the press release.\|View the settlement agreement.
April 2007	HUD issues its FY 2006 Annual Report on Fair Housing which shows that HUD and Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) agencies received 10,328 housing discrimination complaints during the year, the highest number ever filed in a single year. It also describes HUD’s fair housing enforcement, education, and outreach activities during the year, and the activities conducted under its Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) and Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). Read the Annual Report. \| Read the press release. In honor of Fair Housing Month, fair housing ads ran in approximately 60 theaters, and over 900 screens across the nation between April 6 and 13. Check for a list of theaters near you. Just as McGruff the Crime Dog represents the fight against crime, Franklin, the Fair Housing Fox, will symbolize the nation's efforts to end housing discrimination. Designed to appeal to children and their parents, Franklin, the Fair Housing Fox, will encourage the public to "Dare to Be Fair" by promoting the message that "Fair Housing Is Not an Option; It's the Law." Read the press release to learn more about Franklin. Parade Magazine featured HUD's housing discrimination hotline and website in an article highlighting housing discrimination in its April 15th issue. Be sure to check it out! Landlords in the Big Fork Montana area were charged in violation of the Fair Housing Act for indicating a preference not to rent to families with children and discouraging a potential renter because of her teenaged daugter. View the charge. Longview, Washington landlords have been charged with housing discrimination for refusing to make a reasonable accommodation to their parking policy to allow a disabled tenant the equal opportunity to use and enjoy his home and attempting to evict him in retaliation for making the request. View the charge. Property managers in Kansas City were charged in violation of the Fair Housing Act for firing an in-house social worker in retaliation for suggesting tenants with potential fair housing complaints contact HUD or an attorney. View the charge.
May 2007	Kim Kendrick, FHEO Assistant Secretary and Cheryl Pucci, President of the Texas Apartment Association (TAA), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreeing that TAA and HUD will work together to reduce discrimination in rental housing in Texas. This is the first MOU with a rental association in the state of Texas. The Texas Apartment Association has 10,000 members across Texas and serves 3.8 million renters. View the MOU. A landlord in Chicago, Illinois has been charged in violation of the Fair Housing Act for posting a "For Rent" ad that excluded children. View the charge. Owner and manager charged with Fair Housing Act violation for allegedly denying a tenant with HIV a room in a residential care facility. Read the media advisory. HUD charged the owner of a 30-unit complex in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with violating the Fair Housing Act for allegedly subjecting African-American tenants to stricter rules than others. A fair housing complaint against him claims that he enforced a "quiet time" policy for black residents and used racial slurs, including the "N" word, to describe the children of African-American residents. Read the press release.\| View the charge. HUD charged the property manager and owner of a Biloxi apartment complex for refusing to provide an accessible parking space for a disabled resident. View the charge.
June 2007	HUD negotiated a settlement agreement in fair lending complaint. The Indiana-based bank allegedly refused to make loans on row houses for less than $100,000 in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC because because row houses valued under $100,000 are more heavily concentrated in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods.View the agreement.\|Read the press release. HUD debarred an Omaha, NE, landlord from doing business with the federal government for three years for making unwanted sexual advances toward female residents of his rental properties and also making unwanted advances toward female rental applicants. Read the press release. \| View the debarrment decision. HUD issued a report on 2006 International Building Code and 2003 ANSI A117.1 Standard as safe harbors for compliance with the Fair Housing Act’s accessibility requirements. View the report.
July 2007	HUD charged Philadelphia rental property owners in violation of the Fair Housing Act for allegedly refusing to rent an apartment to an engaged couple who were in the process of adopting a child. When the property owner learned of the pending adoption, she discouraged the potential renters, including sending an e-mail explaining that she does not rent to anyone with children because "the apartment is really not big enough for a family." The property owners later rented the apartment to a family without children. View the charge.\| Read the press release. HUD charged a property manager in Boston, MA for failure to grant a reasonable accommodation and retaliatory eviction. The property manager allegedly prohibited a woman from moving a service animal for her disabled daughter into her rental unit and, instead, filed a retaliatory eviction against the family. View the charge. HUD charged a property owner in Windsor Locks, CT in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The property owner allegedly prohibited a tenant from getting her disabled daughter a service animal and, after receiving notice of her fair housing complaint, stopped accepting her rent and served her with eviction papers. View the charge.\|Read the press release. To ensure equality in today's lending and overall housing market, HUD is creating a new Lending Review Division that will review mortgage lending practices nationwide. The agency has hired a senior-level economist and plans to hire more staff to enhance its ability to investigate allegations of mortgage lending discrimination. Read the press release.
August 2007	The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the Federal Register on July 18, 2007 to adopt the 2003 ANSI A117.1 Accessibility Standard. Public comments will be accepted until September 17, 2007. View the notice. FHEO convened a volunteer technical work group to develop the Fair Housing Disaster Toolkit following up on "Disaster Recovery" discussions at the 2006 Fair Housing Policy Conference. The Toolkit provides information and samples to assist fair housing professionals, states, localities and other disaster recovery agencies to better understand the connection between Fair Housing Act responsibility and disaster recovery. HUD and the TAA sponsored a training session designed to educate architects, builders, and developers about federal accessibility requirements. HUD and TAA are working to achieve one of the objectives of a voluntary Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on April 19, 2007 to work together to promote fair housing in Texas. Read the press release. HUD charged an Illinois landlord in violation of the Fair Housing Act for allegedly refusing to rent an apartment to a family with three children. Read the media advisory.
September 2007	HUD charged the Tuckahoe Housing Authority in Tuckahoe, NY with discrimination for refusing to rent a public housing unit to an otherwise eligible woman, subjecting her to different terms, conditions, privileges, or services and facilities because of her disability. View the charge. HUD charged a landlord in Buffalo, NY with housing discrmination based on familial status for telling a prospective renter and follow-up tester that she would not rent to anyone with dogs or children. View the charge. HUD charged a Chicago landlord in violation of the Fair Housing Act for posting an ad on Chicago's craigslist website for an apartment for rent in a "clean Adult building" discouraging families with children from applying. View the charge. HUD charged a Chicago property owner and property manager with housing discrimination on the basis of race for allegedly preventing a tenant from subletting her unit to an African-American woman. View the charge.
October 2007	HUD signed a conciliation agreement to settle a complaint alleging that Infinity Management engaged in discriminatory housing practices by denying a request to provide a wheelchair ramp for a disabled resident. Infinity Managment agreed to retrofit the property to meet the requirements of the Fair Housing Accessibility Guidelines and to pay $3,500 to the complainant. View the conciliation agreement. HUD has awarded more than 80 grants totaling $17.1 million to recipients in 37 states and the District of Columbia to help fight housing discrimination. Additionally, New America Media, received $1 million in grants to develop the first coordinated national media campaign to educate the public about discriminatory lending. Read the press release.
November 2007	Assistant Secretary Kim Kendrick delivered the keynote address at the National Organization of African Americans in Housing's (NOAAH) 9th Annual Meeting and Conference. She presented award checks to two Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Recipients: The Fair Housing Center of Greater New Orleans, ($275,000) and the Advocacy Center, ($100,000). Read more on the event. Assistant Secretary Kim Kendrick announced the funding of the first Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) grantee in the State of West Virginia. The Northern West Virginia Center for Independent Living received a symbolic check for the $99,976 grant to conduct outreach and education activities to increase awareness of people with disabilities about their fair housing rights. View the press coverage. HUD charged a property owner in Decatur, AL for discriminating against a potential renter because he was African American. Suspicious of possible discrimination, the renter and his white supervisor "tested" the property owner on a phone call to reveal discriminatory comments. Learn more by reading the charge.
December 2007	HUD negotiated a conciliation agreement for several families who filed fair housing complaints claiming that Dalmark Management Group, LLC and Ridge Crest Apartments, L.P., of St. Louis, and Argent Ridge Crest, Inc. violated their fair housing rights on the bases of familial status and retaliation. HUD will notify current and former tenants who lived at the property between December 1, 2005, and the date of the agreement, of their right to share in the settlement money. Read the conciliation agreement. As a result of the signed VCA the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) must amend its policies and procedures to ensure that they do not discriminate against applicants and residents with disabilities. One of the terms in the agreement requires SHA to construct or convert at least 263 fully-accessible housing units, representing 5 percent of its total housing stock. View the VCA with the Seattle Housing Authority in its entirety. \| Read the press release. Kim Kendrick, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, made grant presentations to the Bay Area Legal Aid, California Rural Legal Assistance, Fair Housing of Marin, Greater Napa Fair Housing Center, La Raza Centro Legal, Project Sentinel, and the Silver State Fair Housing Council to conduct fair housing education and outreach. View the press coverage of the event. A HUD Administrative Law Judge signed a consent decree in a case brought against a property owner, claiming he discriminated against the potential renter on the basis of familial status. According to the decree, the property owner will pay $15,000 to the Complainant and $2,000, as a civil penalty, to HUD. He must also do fair housing training from a qualified fair housing agency.

Content current as of 18 December 2007

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