HUD AWARDS $2.9 MILLION TO FLORIDA TO FIGHT HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

MIAMI - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded $2,998,306 to six fair housing organizations in Florida in an effort to reduce housing discrimination. This funding is part of $38.3 million HUD awarded today to 95 fair housing organizations and other non-profit agencies in 38 states. See below detailed project summary of the Florida grants.

Funded through HUD's Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), these grants will help enforce the Fair Housing Act through investigation and testing of alleged discriminatory practices. In addition, the funds will educate housing providers, local governments and potential victims of housing discrimination about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act.

"Ending housing discrimination requires that we support the law of the land and protect the housing rights of individuals and families who would be denied those rights," stated HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "Ensuring and promoting Fair Housing practices lies at the core of HUD's mission and these grants enable community groups all over the nation to help families who are denied equal access to housing."

HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. added: "No one should be denied the opportunity to live where they want because of how they look, their faith, whether they have children or because they have a disability. These grants will help us continue our efforts to educate the public and housing industry about their housing rights and responsibilities."

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet and espanol.hud.gov. You can also follow HUD on twitter @HUDnews, on facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD's News Listserv.

Florida

Daytona Beach

Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Inc.
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $325,000

Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Inc. (CLSMF) will use its grant to perform extensive fair housing outreach/education in order to identify victims of housing discrimination in the areas of Citrus, Flagler, Hernando, Lake, Marion, Orange, Putnam and Sumter counties in Central Florida. CLSMF will provide fair housing educational material in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Creole, while the CLSMF staff will conduct fair housing and fair lending educational workshops in English and Spanish to educate service area residents on discriminatory housing practices. These projects will be combined with extensive testing in these areas.

Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, Inc.
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $325,000

Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida (CLSMF) will use its grant to provide complaint intake, and help homeowners resolve their complaints by filing them with the HUD substantially equivalent agencies, regulatory and consumer protection agencies, and through litigation. CLSMF will provide outreach in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Haitian Creole, and other languages, along with large print, to prevent lending abuses and to identify victims of lending discrimination and foreclosure rescue scams. In addition, CLSMF will coordinate a statewide Fair Housing Summit and trainings about the importance of fair lending for state/local government employees, attorneys, and fair housing advocates, realtors, lenders, and other housing industry professionals, and build the capacity of at least one non-profit fair housing organization's fair lending program. Lastly, CLSMF will determine if discriminatory practices exist by examining lending patterns and auditing mortgage lenders and mortgage rescue services.

Jacksonville

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc.
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $324,902

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. (JALA) will use its grant to conduct intake, testing, investigations, enforcement, and mediation and litigation where necessary of fair housing discrimination complaints. Specifically, JALA will expand current investigations into systemic housing investigations and investigate discrimination against the LGBT community. Systemic investigations may include investigation of discrimination in rental, sales, and lending and include HUD-funded entities, institutional organizations, jurisdictional agencies, and public and private housing providers.

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc.
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $324,986

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) will use its grant award to prioritize and target mortgage abuses involving lending institutions and mortgage service providers by identifying mortgage abuses that are a direct product of the systemic discrimination directed at Jacksonville's African American and disabled communities. The goal is to increase loan modifications or homes otherwise saved from foreclosure for eligible protected class homeowners through temporary forgiveness of monthly payments, mortgage terms modification (i.e. reduction in principal and interest rates), and other foreclosure prevention loan servicing required by fair housing laws, federal regulations, and loan servicing guidelines.

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc.
Education and Outreach Initiative -
General Component - $124,862

Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc. (JALA) will use its grant to enable its attorneys to address the systemic discrimination of African American families and the disabled in Duval, Clay, Nassau, and St. Johns Counties by educating consumers about mortgage abuses, debt relief options, and how to avoid scams. Education efforts will focus on relief options that may include temporary forgiveness of monthly payments, mortgage terms modification, Federal Trade Commission penalties, and other foreclosure prevention loan servicing required by fair housing laws, federal regulations, and loan servicing guidelines.

Lantana

Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches, Inc.
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $321,723

The Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches, Inc. (FHC) will use its grant to address housing discrimination covered by the Fair Housing Act and provide comprehensive services to persons with limited English proficiency. Activities will include: complaint intake and legal support to victims of illegal housing practices; housing discrimination testing. FHC will conduct testing programs for lending institutions, real estate, and rental management professionals. FHC will conduct fair housing education and outreach to the private housing industry, public housing authorities, and Community Development Corporations, as well as hold legal community seminars and education sessions for the general public, protected classes, new immigrants, traditionally underserved, and disadvantaged groups on first time home buying; predatory lending education for community based organizations, civic and faith-based groups, and condo/homeowner associations FHC will also monitor media for compliance to fair housing advertising guidelines.

Melbourne

Fair Housing Continuum, Inc.
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $320,667

The Fair Housing Continuum, Inc. (Continuum) will use its grant to provide the full range of fair housing enforcement activities to all persons protected under the Fair Housing Act in its expanded service area, including Orlando. The grant emphasis will be underserved communities of homeless persons, issues of non-English speaking immigrant populations, and persons with disabilities. The Continuum will: recruit and train testers and conduct tests; conduct training events and accessibility workshops, assist persons with reasonable accommodations; and conduct intake of fair housing complaints and refer complaints to HUD.

Tampa

Bay Area Legal Services, Inc.
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $292,920

Bay Area Legal Services, Inc. will use its grant to serve populations in high needs areas identified in the County's Five Year Consolidated Plan and Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choices. Bay Area Legal Aid will provide educational activities to residents who lack of knowledge of fair housing rights, and to housing providers about fair housing obligations. Bay area Legal Aid will use enforcement efforts to eliminate discriminatory practices in rental, sales, and lending; and obtain reasonable accommodations and accessibility for disabled persons.

West Palm Beach

Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc.
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $313,246

Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. (LASPBC) will use its grant to address local discriminatory housing practices. Enforcement and other activities will include investigating and litigating fair housing complaints; and referring complaints to HUD; recruiting and training new testers and conducting tests of the local housing market. LASPBC will also conduct education and outreach activities and produce a quarterly newsletter for distribution to case workers and housing advocates. The project will concentrate on resolving fair housing complaints through mediation or other voluntary resolution processes rather than through litigation whenever possible, practical, and in the best interest of the client.

Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc.
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $325,000

The Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, Inc. (LASPBC) will use this grant to systematically investigate lending discrimination complaints and litigate if warranted. To assist in these efforts LASPBC will recruit and train new testers and conduct tests of lending institutions and mortgage-related services. LASPBC will also conduct education and outreach activities targeting underserved communities of immigrant populations, persons with disabilities, and veterans and hold fair housing workshops. The organization's enforcement activities will include intake and evaluation of lending discrimination complaints and systematic investigations for further enforcement processing by HUD. LASPBC will concentrate on resolving complaints through mediation or other voluntary resolution processes rather than through litigation whenever possible, practical, and in the best interest of the client.