BUSH ADMINISTRATION AWARDS $17.6 MILLION IN FAIR HOUSING
GRANTS TO CONTINUE FIGHT AGAINST HOUSING BIAS
Legal Services of Eastern Michigan (Flint) Receives $161,438.04

CHICAGO - 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.

"Until every door that today stands closed has been opened, until all families live in the homes of their dreams, in
the neighborhoods of their choice, we must work to ensure that all housing is fair housing," said Joseph P. Galvan, HUD Regional Director for the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin).

Legal Services of Eastern Michigan (LSEM), a 52-year-old history of serving Genesee County, will receive $161,438.04 (PEI) to deliver free, civil legal services to residents of Bay, Midland, and Saginaw counties. From
two sites (Flint and Saginaw), individuals, families, and housing industry professionals will receive outreach and education services to raise their awareness of anti-discrimination laws and enforcement initiatives that offer relief
to victims of housing discrimination. All protected classes will benefit from outreach and complaint-based testing
that is also slated for Huron, Lapeer, Sanilac, and Tuscola counties. With local community- and faith-based
agencies and local governments and businesses, the 1-year project will leverage its resources to conduct testing, complaint intake, investigation, enforcement, and limited research.

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

• Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI) 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 (EOI) 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 (FHOI) 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 in the following locations:

For other states, individual project summaries by city and state are on the Internet.

Since the program's inception in 1989, nearly $226 million has been awarded to some 1070 organizations. Twenty eight organizations selected for this year's awards are first-time applicants.

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development as
well as enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet and espanol.hud.gov.

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