Fair Housing Conference Held in Mississippi

Roundtable participants included, from left to right, McKenna Raney-Gray, LGBTQ Justice Project Staff Attorney, ACLU of Mississippi; John Jopling, Housing Law Director, MS Center for Justice; DeAndra Cullen, DAS, HUD FHEO, Office of Policy, Legislative Initiatives, and Outreach; Stacey Howard, Executive Director, Grace House; Charles Harris, Founder/Executive Director, HEED.

Ashley Lowe, HUD's Fair Housing Programs & Compliance Director, for MS, TN, and SC, conducted a training on reasonable accommodations.

DeAndra Cullen, FHEO Deputy Assistant Secretary provided the keynote luncheon address on April 29th.

In observance of Fair Housing Month and the 54th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act, the Housing, Education, and Economic Development, Inc. (HEED), a Mississippi Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) participant, hosted its 33rd Annual Fair Housing and Fair Lending Conference on April 28 and 29, 2022.

Ashley Lowe, Director of HUD Fair Housing Programs & Compliance for MS, TN, and SC conducted a training on reasonable accommodations and civil rights accessibility requirements. The audience included housing providers, lending professionals, and housing industry stakeholders.

DeAndra Cullen, FHEO Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy, Legislative Initiatives, and Outreach, moderated a roundtable panel discussion on LGBTQ rights. The panel included complainants with active fair housing cases alleging LGBTQ discrimination, staff from the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ), ACLU, Grace House, and HEED.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Cullen also provided the keynote luncheon address on April 29th. Cullen's address specifically challenged the audience to "answer the call" of working to eliminate housing discrimination through action and public awareness.

The conference reinforced this year's theme for Fair Housing Month, "Fair Housing: More Than Just Words." While the trainings, panels, and roundtables focused on a variety of housing issues; including post-pandemic bankruptcy, appraisal bias, and housing counseling, each session emphasized the importance of taking action to end housing discrimination and ensuring equity.

###