NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FAIR HOUSING GROUPS AWARDED $2.2 MILLION TO HELP FIGHT DISCRIMINATION

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – May 3, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today presented over $2.2 million to several fair housing organizations to help fight housing discrimination in Northern California.  John Trasviña, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, made the grant presentations to Bay Area Legal, California Rural Legal Assistance, Fair Housing of Marin, Greater Napa Fair Housing Center, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, Project Sentinel, Pacific News Media and Fair Housing Council of Central California (see attached list below for project descriptions).

Earlier this year, HUD awarded $26.3 million to 98 fair housing organizations and other non-profit agencies in 37 states and the District of Columbia to assist people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination.

“In 2010, the fight for fair housing across America continues. The organizations we are funding are respected and trusted groups that emerged from a very competitive process,” stated John Trasviñna, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity.  “They will help HUD enforce the law and educate the public about their rights and responsibilities under the law.”

The grants announced today are funded through HUD’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and will be used to investigate allegations of housing discrimination, educate the public and the housing industry about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act, and work to promote equal housing opportunities.

The categories grants were awarded in are:

• Private Enforcement Initiative grants (PEI) – HUD awarded $21.1 million to help groups investigate alleged housing discrimination, and enforce the Fair Housing Act and state and local laws that are substantially equivalent to the Act.
• Education and Outreach Initiative grants (EOI) – HUD awarded $3.1 million to groups that educate the public and housing providers about their rights and obligations under federal, state, and local fair housing laws.
• Fair Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI) – HUD awarded $2.1 million to groups that serve rural and immigrant populations in areas where there currently is no existing fair housing organization, or are otherwise underserved.

A list of all grant recipients is listed here .

FHEO and its partners in the Fair Housing Assistance Program investigate approximately 10,000 housing discrimination complaints annually. People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at (800) 669-9777 (voice), (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Additional information is available at www.hud.gov/fairhousing. Stay on top of the most up-to-date news regarding the Fair Housing Act by signing up for the FHEO RSS Feed.

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Summary of the Fair Housing Initiative Grants in Northern California (Fiscal Year 2009)

Bay Area Legal Aid
Oakland
Private Enforcement Initiative –General Component ‐ $275,000
Bay Area Legal Aid will use its grant to address the fair housing needs of low‐income Bay Area residents, with a focus on non‐English speaking immigrants, the disabled, and underserved populations. Services will be provided in the Bay Area counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco, and will include investigating discrimination complaints, conducting testing, hosting community fair housing education presentations, providing fair housing enforcement training for Bay Area government and community organizations, and conducting fair housing law and litigation training.

California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
San Francisco
Private Enforcement Initiative – Performance Based Component ‐ $275,000
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc., will use its grant to conduct fair housing enforcement activities in
three of the most underserved rural agricultural regions in the state of California: Border; Central Valley; and Salinas Valley‐Central Coast. California Rural Legal Assistance’s Rural Fair Housing Center will work with non‐profit service providers, state and local governments and fair housing agencies and organizations to expand testing, complaint reporting, and enforcement action referrals from migrant farm‐workers, immigrant and refugee populations, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, the homeless, and persons with limited English proficiency.

Fair Housing Council of Central California
Fresno
Private Enforcement Initiative – General Component ‐ $275,000
The Fair Housing Council of Central California will use its grant to increase the number of enforcement actions it takes, discover and remedy discrimination in public and private real estate markets, detect and remedy subtle and sophisticated forms of housing discrimination, reduce the incidence of steering and other practices that perpetuate segregation, increase referrals made by complainants, and increase the number of complaints filed by new immigrants, the undocumented, and persons with disabilities.

Fair Housing of Marin
San Rafael
Education and Outreach Initiative – General Component ‐ $100,000
Fair Housing of Marin will use its grant to conduct fair housing education and outreach activities to educate veterans, the homeless, persons with disabilities, immigrants, and people of color in Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, Solano, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties about their fair housing rights.
Veterans will receive bilingual literature, homeless persons will be served through presentations on home seeking skills, and people with disabilities will receive reasonable accommodation training.

Fair Housing of Marin
San Rafael
Private Enforcement Initiative – Performance Based Component ‐ $275,000
Fair Housing of Marin will use its grant to conduct fair housing enforcement activities in Marin, Contra Costa, Solano, and Sonoma counties that will include workshops and conferences for the disabled, predatory lending presentations for the elderly, testing on behalf of immigrant populations, complaint solicitation through bilingual papers, and translation of Web site and trilingual Fair Housing literature.

Greater Napa Fair Housing Center
Napa
Private Enforcement Initiative – General Component ‐ $136,500
Greater Napa Fair Housing Center will use its grant to conduct fair housing intake, counseling, investigations, testing, mediation services, complaint referrals, and education programs that will address historically segregated housing patterns and barriers to fair housing in Napa County, California. Collaborating with eight faith‐based and grassroots agencies, the Center will market fair housing services in English and Spanish to generate complaints, enforcement actions, and fair housing education opportunities. Specifically targeted will be Spanish‐speaking new immigrants and the disabled, who will receive bilingual publications, financial literacy information, and referrals to fair lending attorneys.

Housing and Economic Rights Advocates
Oakland
Fair Housing Organizations Initiative – Continued Development Mortgage Rescue Scam
Component ‐ $131,916
Housing and Economic Rights Advocates will use its grant to implement a fair lending and foreclosure prevention project in Solano County, with a particular emphasis on underserved populations in Vallejo and Fairfield, the two largest and most diverse cities in the county, and the underserved rural and unincorporated areas of the county. The program will also focus on immigrants, people of color, people with limited English proficiency, and persons with disabilities, and emphasize services to seniors. In addition, fair lending legal training will be held for attorneys to increase fair lending enforcement and reduce predatory lending and foreclosure rescue scams, and direct legal assistance will be provided to 50 Solano County residents victimized by fair lending abuses and mortgage rescue fraud.

Pacific News Media
San Francisco
Education and Outreach Initiative – National Program – Media Campaign Component‐ $500,000
Pacific News Media will use this grant to continue a previous HUD‐partnered national campaign labeled “Your Home, Your Rights”, that will include television, advertising, earned media, film, social media and grass roots outreach efforts to target cities, regions, and populations that are most impacted by foreclosures, housing discrimination, and predatory lending practices. The Campaign will emphasize the pervasiveness of these predatory lending practices, particularly among minority populations, through a well orchestrated national radio and internet campaign, PSA’s, a 1‐800 Number Direct Response Campaign Webinars, and a Social Media Campaign (FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace, You Tube).  The campaign is also educating Americans about the importance of being aware of fair housing practices, while shining a national spotlight on the danger of predatory lending.

Project Sentinel, Inc.
Redwood City
Private Enforcement Initiative – Performance Based Component ‐ $273,787
Project Sentinel, Inc., will work with grassroots agencies, legal service providers, and local units of government to affirmatively furthering fair housing on behalf of residents residing in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and the city of Fremont. The 36‐month project will include four key components: complaint‐based testing to protect individuals’ fair housing rights; systemic investigations to reduce ethnicity, race, familial status and disability discrimination; improve public awareness of fair housing Issues; and combat predatory and unfair lending practices.

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HUD is the nation’s housing agency committed to sustaining homeownership; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development ad enforces the nation’s fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.

Contact:
Shantae Goodloe
(202) 294-3903