HUD AWARDS $424,411 GRANTS TO COMBAT HOUSING DISCRIMINATION IN MARYLAND

BALTIMORE - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded $424,411 to the Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. and the University of Maryland, Baltimore to assist people in Maryland who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination. (The project summaries are listed at the end of this news release).

"HUD provides the only federal grant support to private fair housing enforcement and education," said HUD Regional Administrator Jane C.W. Vincent. "We count these two Maryland organizations among our partners who help us fight housing discrimination."

The competitive grants are funded through HUD's Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), and are part of nearly $41.18 million distributed nationwide to 99 fair housing organizations and other nonprofit agencies in 35 states and the District of Columbia. The grants will be used to enforce the Fair Housing Act through investigation and testing of alleged discriminatory practices, and to educate housing providers, local governments and potential victims of housing discrimination about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act. HUD had over $70 million in requests for FHIP, but funded only $41 million.

HUD is awarding FHIP grants to the following agencies in Maryland.

FHEO and its partners in the Fair Housing Assistance Program investigate more than 9,300 housing discrimination complaints annually. People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY).

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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 at www.hud.gov 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.

MARYLAND
Baltimore
Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc.
Private Enforcement Initiative - Multi-Year
Component - $324,411

Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. (BNI) will use its grant to continue its ongoing activities of monitored testing, investigating fair housing complaints, mediating disputes between complainants and landlords, litigating fair housing cases, and disseminating information about fair housing laws. BNI will be able to expand its fair housing activities to other jurisdictions throughout the state, focusing on the Eastern Shore, and Prince George’s, Carroll, and Anne Arundel counties, which will enable it to create systemic investigations of housing discrimination.

University of Maryland, Baltimore
Education and Outreach Initiative - Higher Education
Component - $100,000
The University of Maryland Carey Law School, together with its consulting partners National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and Civil Justice, will use its grant to: create a three-part curriculum in fair housing law for upper-year law students, and deliver that curriculum; establish paid internships for eight high-performing students who have completed the Fair Housing in Law, Theory, and Practice course and award them Fair Housing Fellowships; and engage the fellows with the wider professional Fair Housing community (legal practitioners, government fair housing agency staff, non-profit and community providers) in a capacity building conference hosted at the Law School. The conference will be broadly-inclusive, will provide functional tracks (education and outreach, training, research trends, policy), and offer legal-systems perspective, and the partners will collect data of protected-class participation.