BUSH ADMINISTRATION AWARDS $17.6 MILLION IN FAIR HOUSING
GRANTS TO CONTINUE FIGHT AGAINST HOUSING BIAS
Florida receives $1.5 million

WASHINGTON - The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today it has awarded $17.6 million in grants to fair housing groups in 39 states and the District of Columbia as part of the Bush Administration's efforts to curb housing discrimination.

"Today's announcement is another step toward ensuring that Americans have equal access to safe and affordable housing," said HUD Acting Secretary Alphonso Jackson. "We will not allow discrimination to stop families across this nation from living in any home, apartment or neighborhood they can afford."

The grants were awarded today by HUD's Fair Housing Initiatives Program to groups that 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.

Three types of grants were awarded to groups in 96 cities:

Private Enforcement Initiative grants - About $10.2 million was awarded to assist private, tax-exempt
fair housing enforcement organizations in the investigation and enforcement of alleged violations of the
Fair Housing Act and State and local fair housing laws.

Education and Outreach Initiative grants - About $5.3 million was allocated to groups to educate the
public about the rights and obligations under federal, state and local fair housing laws. Nearly $800,000
went to ten groups that focus on the needs of persons with disabilities.

Fair Housing Organizations Initiative grants - About $2.1 million was awarded for projects that serve rural
and immigrant populations in underserved areas or where there currently is no existing fair housing
organization.

In 2002, HUD released a study titled Discrimination in Metropolitan Housing Markets: Phase I, which documented
that despite a decline during the last decade, housing discrimination still exists at unacceptable levels. Last year, HUD, in partnership with The Advertising Council and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, recently released an award-winning, edgy multimedia campaign designed to fight housing discrimination by showing the many faces of those persons protected by the nation's 35-year-old Fair Housing Act.

HUD received applications from 215 groups seeking grants for the fiscal year 2003 assistance. Grants were awarded
to 121 projects nationwide. Since the program's inception in 1989, nearly $226 million has been awarded to some
1,070 organizations. Twenty eight organizations selected for this year's awards are first-time applicants. In Florida, $1,591,754 in grants were awarded to:

Cocoa

Fair Housing Continuum, Inc. - $1,050,000.00 - Fair Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI)
Fair Housing Continuum, Inc. is working to establish a fair housing project to serve Orange, Lake, and Osceola counties in Central Florida. The Continuum will develop Alianza for Fair Housing, a project of Central Florida Legal Services, Inc., to serve underserved areas and individuals, including immigrants with limited English proficiency,
and individuals living in rural areas.

Jacksonville

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. - $206,417.79 - Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Fair Housing Advocacy Center (FHAC) of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc., has been the sole provider of private enforcement of fair housing laws on behalf of victims in the Jacksonville area and the adjacent six-county region
since 1996. Under this 12-month project, FHAC, as the only entity in Jacksonville and the north Florida area, will provide quality fair housing testing in the areas of rental, sales, and lending.

Tampa

Bay Area Legal Services, Inc. - $128,846.79 - Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI)
The Bay Area Legal Services will become the first and only HUD-partnered provider of Private Enforcement on
behalf of housing discrimination victims, in the Tampa/Hillsborough County area of Florida.

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