HUD AWARDS NEARLY $325,000 TO INDIANA TO COMBAT HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

CHICAGO - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $324,709 to The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana to assist people in the Indianapolis metro area and surrounding counties who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination on Wednesday.

The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) will use its grant to build on its current enforcement and education and outreach activities in the Indianapolis Metro Area and surrounding counties. FHCCI will develop its capacity to conduct testing and enhance other investigation tools to address unlawful discrimination and expand its capacity related to systemic investigations. The organization will expand education and outreach activities including support for additional public training programs on fair housing, diversification of program offerings, and increased distribution of publications and support for partnerships to translate FHCCI publications into Burmese (Indianapolis is a major Burmese refugee resettlement site). Lastly, the organization will expand its reach by expanding the public's knowledge of FHCCI services.

"Our local partners are essential to ending housing discrimination," said Antonio R. Riley, HUD's Midwest Regional Administrator. "This grant will enable The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana to help HUD enforce fair housing laws, and make people more aware of their rights."

The grant announced today is 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 category of the grant awarded today is the Fair Housing Organizations Initiative. HUD recently awarded $1.2 million in this category to groups in Indiana, North Carolina, Texas and West Virginia that serve rural and immigrant populations in areas where there currently is no existing fair housing organization, or are otherwise underserved.

People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at (800) 669-9777 (voice), (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed by going to www.hud.gov/fairhousing, or by downloading HUD's free housing discrimination mobile application, which can be accessed through Apple devices, such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

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