HUD AWARDS NEW YORK OVER $4.5 MILLION TO FIGHT HOUSING DISCRIMINATION
NYC, Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, and Westchester Groups Among Grantees

NEW YORK - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded over $4.5 million to nine New York-based non-profit agencies to combat housing discrimination. The funding announced today is part of more than $38 million awarded nationwide to 95 fair housing organizations and other non-profit agencies in 38 states and the District of Columbia. (A listing of grantees and how the funding will be used is at the bottom of the release.)

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."

"Everyone should have access to the neighborhoods and homes for which they financially qualify," added Bryan Greene, HUD Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "These grants make it possible for non-profits to assist people in their communities pursue their fair housing rights and educate housing providers and others about their responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act."

The categories of grants awarded today are:

• Private Enforcement Initiative grants (PEI) - HUD awarded $24.7 million to help local non-profit fair housing organizations carry out testing and enforcement activities to prevent or eliminate discriminatory housing practices.
  
  
• Education and Outreach Initiative grants (EOI) - HUD awarded $3.8 million to groups that educate the public and housing providers about their rights and responsibilities under federal, state, and local fair housing laws.
  
  
• Fair Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI) - HUD awarded $9.8 million to help build the capacity and effectiveness of non-profit fair housing organizations, particularly organizations that focus on the rights and needs of underserved groups, such as rural and immigrant populations.

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 1-800-669-9777 or (800) 927-9275.

NEW YORK GRANTEES

Long Island Housing Services, Inc. - Bohemia
FY13 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $325,000

Long Island Housing Services (LIHS) will use its grant to provide comprehensive Fair Housing services for the Long Island region. Services will include counseling, investigations, and tests for familial status in the rental market. LIHS will pursue enforcement actions in cases where evidence supports an ability to challenge discrimination. LIHS also will conduct systemic rental and sales investigations of real estate agents and housing providers to audit for race, national origin, and disability discrimination. It will investigate lenders' practices related to real estate owned (REO) Quick Sales in communities with disproportionately large African American and Latino populations identified as impacted by foreclosure crisis and predatory lending abuses. Outreach and education will include educational events and presentations to raise awareness of rights/resources for vulnerable target groups, including English language learner populations, Language Line facilitation of communication with limited English proficiency requests, and expansion of materials for people with visual and auditory disabilities.

Long Island Housing Services Inc. - Bohemia
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $325,000

Long Island Housing Services (LIHS) will use its grant to investigate systemic lending discrimination in Long Island's residential mortgage market. Among other activities, LIHS will
partner with Hofstra University to analyze lending practices; host a regional conference and distribute a report on the lending market of Long Island. LIHS will analyze Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data and related mapping to determine discriminatory patterns, refine a previously developed lending database, and screen lenders through in-house clients' experience/documents for systemic fair lending violations. LIHS will recruit and train qualified testers to initiate systemic lending testing; and, if evidence is found, meet with attorneys to develop casework.

LSNY Bronx Corp. d/b/a Legal Services NYC - Bronx
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $325,000

Legal Services NYC - Bronx's Foreclosure Prevention Project will use it grant to serve Bronx homeowners with services to prevent foreclosure, redress the effects of discriminatory mortgage practices, prevent or report mortgage rescue scams and/or servicing abuses, and engage in litigation to address discriminatory lending practices and servicing abuses. These services will include a walk-in community court clinic, a foreclosure prevention and fair lending hotline, screening for mortgage rescue scams, mortgage loan servicing abuses, fair housing claims, foreclosure prevention counseling and legal advice. In addition, Legal Services NYC will coordinate the Bronx Foreclosure Prevention and Fair Lending Taskforce, conduct foreclosure and fair lending homeowner events, and conduct a Bronx foreclosure and fair lending state-of-the-borough event about the current state of the foreclosure crisis in Bronx County.

Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $325,000

Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A (Brooklyn-A) will use its grant to continue support of its Anti-Predatory Lending/Foreclosure Defense Project, which it implements within a federal government identified mortgage foreclosure "hot zone." The project includes intake at various sites throughout the community to identify homeowners in need of investigation of allegations of housing and lending discrimination, abatement of damages through loan modifications, refinancing, and loan workouts; and advocacy and direct assistance to victims of the violation of fair housing and fair lending laws and regulations as applied to fraudulent or predatory foreclosure rescue schemes and practices. In addition, Brooklyn-A will conduct workshops on site and at local community-based organizations and present workshops sponsored by another organization.

South Brooklyn Legal Services, Inc.
FY13 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $325,000

South Brooklyn Legal Services (SBLS) will use its grant to work with an experienced coalition of partners to provide comprehensive assistance to New York City. SBLS will generate, screen and investigate referrals where violations of fair housing laws are alleged; test and evaluate complaints; refer to HUD and other agencies meritorious cases that appear to violate fair housing laws; and provide comprehensive assistance to ensure that persons protected under the fair housing laws do not lose their homes as a result of discrimination. SBLS will also train and support advocates assisting homeowners at risk of foreclosure and disseminates information about housing and lending discrimination.

South Brooklyn Legal Services, Inc.
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $325,000

South Brooklyn Legal Services (SBLS) will use its grant to work with an experienced coalition of partners to assist New York City residents facing foreclosure due to discriminatory financing, servicing, and foreclosure rescue scams. Focusing on central and east Brooklyn, SBLS will generate and accept referrals of clients at risk of foreclosure due to lending discrimination; screen, investigate, and analyze complaints through a testing methodology that identifies individual and systemic patterns of discrimination; and map housing discrimination claims. SBLS will refer bona fide complaints to state and federal enforcement agencies; file enforcement litigation to address systemic lending abuses; and provide legal and other assistance to help targeted homeowners avoid foreclosure and access affordable loan modifications. In addition, SBLS will provide training and support to partner local agencies and organizations and promote fair housing choice by educating the public about discriminatory practices in lending and home sales and foreclosure prevention.

Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Inc. - Buffalo
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi Year Component - $308,167

Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Inc. (HOME) will use its grant to recruit, select and train testers and implement testing in the Buffalo, New York area. HOME will conduct intake of housing discrimination allegations involving federal or state protected classes, mediate, and file validated cases of discrimination. Outreach activities will include conducting outreach to municipal code enforcement officers about federal accessibility requirements, training participants at agencies serving the disabled; and conducting trainings about federal and state fair housing and landlord-tenant law, and landlord trainings to promote opportunities for inclusive housing. HOME will attempt to reach potential victims of housing discrimination by distributing bilingual fair housing brochures and designing fair housing advertisements for bus shelters and public buses.

Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. - Dunkirk
Education and Outreach Initiative -
General Component - $112,233

Chautauqua Opportunities, Inc. (COI) will use its grant to conduct education and outreach on discriminatory housing practices to Spanish speaking individuals, homebuyers, Hispanics, lenders, and landlords. COI will hold classes to educate participants about fair housing laws. Activities include: distribution of fair housing information and counseling; homebuyer education and housing counseling; outreach to landlords and lenders, including fair housing classes; and radio and television fair housing public service announcements. Throughout the project, COI will refer bona fide complaints to fair housing enforcement organizations and legal aid.

New York City

Fair Housing Justice Center
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $324,999

Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) will use its grant to provide fair housing counseling, investigative services, and testing, as well as legal referrals of housing discrimination complaints. FHJC will assist households with federal housing vouchers, homeless individuals, and families with rental subsidies to overcome barriers to housing choice. FHJC will conduct outreach meetings tailored to address issues specific to persons with disabilities, homeless populations, immigrant and limited English-speaking communities, and racial minorities, as well as general presentations for others facing barriers to obtaining and maintaining housing.

Fair Housing Justice Center, Inc.
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $322,078

The Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) will use its grant to design and implement systemic testing investigation into the pre-application practices of lenders to determine whether homebuyers of different races and national origins are afforded the same service and treatment as well as the same information about and access to mortgage financing services and products. During the course of the investigation, FJHC will coordinate testing and develop and maintain working partnerships with fair lending programs in the New York region, recruit and train additional testers to participate in the investigations, coordinate tests of selected lenders of interest, and analyze test results. At the end of the project, FHJC will brief fair lending organizations and fair housing law enforcement agencies on the outcome of the investigations.

Legal Assistance of Western NY, Inc. - Rochester
FY13 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $298,000

Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc. (LawNY) will use its grant to focus on testing and enforcement in Monroe County and five adjoining rural counties. LawNY's complaint-based and systemic testing of the rental housing market will be coordinated with the Geneva Human Rights Commission (GHRC) and systemic testing for discriminatory practices related to Section 8 Vouchers will be coordinated with the Rochester Housing Authority. LawNY will conduct testing of Low Income Tax Credit projects. Meritorious complaints from the rural area surrounding Geneva will be investigated and referred to LawNY attorneys for enforcement in U.S. District Court and administrative forums. The project will assist the Rochester Housing Authority and the City of Rochester to formulate strategies to address discriminatory housing practices revealed by systemic testing.

Legal Services NYC - Staten Island
Fair Housing Organization Initiative -
Lending Discrimination - $325,000

Staten Island Legal Services will use its grant to support work to prevent foreclosure of homes owned by members of racial minorities, elderly persons, and immigrants. The individual casework will include legal advice and assistance to pro se litigants, loan negotiation, representation in court, and referral to housing counselors, and government enforcement agencies. They will also provide financial counseling; and community education. These services will produce measurable outcomes: homes will be saved by the end of the grant period; complaints will be filed with government enforcement agencies; pro se pleadings will be filed in court by homeowners that otherwise would default in their foreclosure cases; homeowners will receive financial counseling; force-placed insurance will be removed for homeowners' accounts; and loan insurance abuse cases will be referred for investigation.

Legal Services NYC - Staten Island
FY11 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $325,000

Staten Island Legal Services (SILS) will use its grant to provide client-based and systemic work to prevent foreclosure of homes owned by members of racial minorities, elderly persons, and immigrants. SILS will continue to expand their current work of serving additional homeowners and undertaking new systemic efforts. Grant activities will include legal advice and assistance to pro se litigants; loan negotiation; representation in court; referral to housing counselors, government enforcement agencies, and financial counseling; and community education.

Fair Housing Council of Central New York, Inc. - Syracuse
FY12 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $322,025

The Fair Housing Council of Central New York, Inc. (Fair Housing Council) will use its grant to conduct telephone intake as the first step to opening fair housing investigations and screening complaints. The organization will analyze the business practices of housing providers of all types for compliance with fair housing laws. Additionally, the Fair Housing Council will recruit and train testers annually and administer paired rental tests during the project's duration. The organization will also conduct fair housing counseling for clients in need of information regarding their fair housing and fair lending rights; maintain a website with fair housing information establish web pages for social networking sites, create a blog page, and update the web site. The Council will conduct outreach throughout the organization's service area to educate the public, service providers, and distribute posters and brochures to educate and inform the public about fair housing.

Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc. - White Plains
FY12 Private Enforcement Initiative -
Multi-Year Component - $325,000

Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc. (WRO) will use its grant to continue to implement a systemic fair housing testing program and expand its geographic reach by engaging in more comprehensive testing throughout the lower Hudson Valley region of New York, including Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam Counties. WRO will continue testing for unlawful discrimination against Section 8 voucher holders, expanding to cover all three counties; and continue administering a comprehensive fair housing enforcement program, providing assistance to victims of housing discrimination through a vigorous program of complaint intake and investigation, and resolution through mediation or litigation. New activities will include co-sponsoring CLE education with Pace Law School to train regional lawyers how to litigate fair housing complaints, and implementing an Equal Housing in the Lower Hudson Valley Program.

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