1999 Best Practices
Success Stories

Program Name:	Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission
Program Focus:	Fair Housing
Geographic Area:	Southeast/Caribbean

State:	Kentucky
City:	Fayette County

Executive Summary
When the persecution got to be too much for Elsie Speed and her family, they contacted the Lexington-Fayette (Kentucky) Urban County Human Rights Commission for help. The Human Rights Commission (HRC) investigated the racial slurs that had been carved into the Speed home, the animal excrement left at their front door, the anonymous phone calls, and the notes demanding that they "go back to Africa."

The commission researched the apartment complex’s unexplained delays in issuing a special parking spot to accommodate Speed’s physical disabilities and the management’s refusal to issue a replacement sign reserving her handicapped parking space after the first sign was stolen. Based on this and other evidence, the commission was able to help Speed and her family collect $69,881 in damages from her apartment complex. HRC Executive Director William Wharton remarked afterwards, "When it comes down to having no other alternative, we’ll do what we have to do."

Since the commission’s inception, "doing what it has to do" has expanded to include conducting assessments of the impact that factors like race and gender have on the approval of home mortgages. The commission also operates a comprehensive community outreach and educational campaign.

In 1999, the commission reviewed 30 new housing cases and resolved 31 of its existing cases. These numbers are expected to increase during the remainder of the year 2000 since the Urban County Commission voted to add sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination to its current caseload.

The commission’s extensive advertising campaigns have attracted a number of new clients. Funded by HUD Community Development Block Grants, the commission uses billboards and posters on buses and other forms of public transportation to inform community residents that "fair housing is the law!"

The commission also provides numerous educational seminars for local housing providers, realtors, and community members. In addition, it instituted a novel program intended to teach the next generation of homeowners important lessons about tolerance. Partnering with Harrison Elementary School in Fayette County, the commission conducted five diversity awareness programs for students and supplied them with information on fair housing to take home to their parents. One of the major benefits of the program is that students learn the importance of human rights activism and fair housing.

Discriminatory practices hurt people and wreak havoc in communities. The commission is dedicated to helping people to obtain fair housing regardless of their race, disability, or gender. Children are our future, and educating them against bigotry is a step in the right direction.

Partners: Harrison Elementary School

Financing: Community Development Block Grants

Point of Contact: Kathy Riley, Phone: (859) 252-4931, E-mail: Kriley@lfuchrc.org