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In the US last year, private nonprofit fair housing organizations processed 75.52% of all housing discrimination complaints. These organizations urgently require increased funding to effectively enforce fair housing laws and support affected individuals.

Local governments handled 19.26% of complaints, while the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) handled 5.10% and 0.12% respectively. Each of these entities, responsible for enforcing fair housing laws at various levels, faces mounting challenges amid the surge in grievances: https://themortgagepoint.com/2024/07/15/a-closer-look-at-fair-housing-complaint-metrics/

By Kyle G. Horst

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Linda Neverson always wanted to buy a home. The bank portfolio manager returned to South Florida after nearly two decades of living in Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and, most recently, Tampa. Neverson wanted to raise her 8-year-old daughter near family. The support came in handy for the new single mother who lost her husband to COVID in 2021. Neverson and her daughter moved in with relatives a year later, saved, then searched for the next place to call home. Within a year, she found it in a fixer-upper in a gated townhouse community off Interstate 75 in Miramar.

For the 48-year-old Neverson, who is Haitian-American, it’s the third residence she has owned and, according to new research, she is the exception in South Florida’s real estate market. Today, fewer Blacks and Hispanics

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Feeling like you haven't gotten an e-mail from us in a while? HOPE's e-mail list has been switched over to the service called Mailchimp!   If you haven’t already, please enter your email address to be sent announcements and our quarterly newsletter!
To sign up, please go here and put in your e-mail address: https://hopefhc.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=76c6831de0346b11ee11b9d49&id=0800c1cd40
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In response to the 2021 landmark Supreme Court decision Bostock v. Clayton County and Executive Order 13988, HUD announced that it would administer and enforce the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination to include discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity.

In 2021, HUD acted quickly and thoughtfully to enforce the landmark Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that workplace prohibitions on sex discrimination include sexual orientation and gender identity. Soon after the Bostock decision, the White House issued Executive Order 13988, Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, which directs every federal agency to assess federal statutes that prohibit sex discrimination and

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We invite you to add us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn as we work towards eliminating housing discrimination!

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Housing discrimination isn't always overt. A sign that says no Asians or no single mothers or no gay people would be very clear, and the media and local civil rights groups would quickly address it. Subtle discrimination is more insidious -- a real estate agent encourages you to shop in a neighborhood where more residents are "like you"; a potential landlord fishes for information about your extended family, your first language, or your food choices; a landlord delays repairs in your unit, but addresses other tenants' concerns in a timely manner. Report discrimination when you suspect it has happened!

Call HOPE at (305) 651-4673

More at:

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Almost exactly a year after Florida lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a measure to restrict property ownership by people from China and six other countries, housing and real-estate groups Monday filed a federal lawsuit alleging it is discriminatory.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami, contends that the law violates the federal Fair Housing Act and part of the Florida Constitution.

It came after four people and a real-estate broker filed a lawsuit last year challenging restrictions focused on people from China, including arguing that the law violates equal-protection rights and the federal Fair Housing Act. That lawsuit is pending at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case filed Monday is broader, as it also applies to restrictions placed on people from Russia, Iran,

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Feeling like you haven't gotten an e-mail from us in a while? HOPE's e-mail list has been switched over to the service called Mailchimp!   If you haven’t already, please enter your email address to be sent announcements and our quarterly newsletter!
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The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has created a factsheet about situations where evictions violate civil rights laws and are not allowed.

The information in the factsheet applies to almost all forms of housing, whether subsidized or in the private market. Please view the full factsheet here: https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/FHEO/documents/Never%20Good%20Cause.pdf

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We invite you to add us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn as we work towards eliminating housing discrimination!

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This morning, HOPE, Inc. and a number of partner organizations filed a fair housing discrimination suit in federal court in Miami to sue Florida for discriminating against people from China and six other countries.

Last year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law SB 264, which greatly restricts people from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria from purchasing real property in the state.

The lawsuit filed by Relman Colfax, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, and Courtney Cunningham asserts that SB 264 violates the federal Fair Housing Act. No one should be denied a home because of who they are or where they come from.

New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/06/us/florida-land-law-chinese-homes.html

National Fair Housing

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Three housing complexes on Hallandale Beach’s Isle of Paradise weren’t such a paradise for families with children, federal attorneys alleged, leading to a series of settlement agreements that officials announced.

Officials said the co-ops in question were Isle of Paradise “B,” “C” and “E” Inc., branded as the Monticello, the Georgetown and the Williamsburg buildings respectively. All are located in the 400 block of Paradise Isle Boulevard.

Attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that the co-ops violated the Fair Housing Act by having “no child under 12″ policies, in violation of rules prohibiting “familial status discrimination.”

All the while, the buildings weren’t in compliance with federal “housing for older persons” rules, a federal complaint alleges. Those

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Feeling like you haven't gotten an e-mail from us in a while? HOPE's e-mail list has been switched over to the service called Mailchimp!   If you haven’t already, please enter your email address to be sent announcements and our quarterly newsletter!
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Please be advised that the Hialeah Housing Authority will be accepting online applications for its Housing Choice Voucher Program (“HCVP” or “Section 8”) on Monday, April 22, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. and will close at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 29, 2024. Local libraries in Hialeah will be available to assist individuals who do not have computer access on Monday, April 22, and Tuesday, April 23, 2024 from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Applications will be available on the HHA website at https://hialeahhousing.housingmanager.com on April 22, 2024. The Public Notice and FAQs can be found at www.hialeahhousing.org.

If you have any additional questions or concerns about the opening, please contact Digna Moro at (786) 257-3508.

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Please join HOPE, Inc. for the 2024 Miami-Dade County Fair Housing Month Celebration: Rising to Meet the Challenges

Friday, April 19, 2024 at the DoubleTree Biscayne Bay (1717 N. Bayshore Dr., Miami, FL 33132)

9:00am – 12:00pm: FREE Workshop
Housing Justice in Miami
Camilo Mejia, Director of Policy & Advocacy, Catalyst Miami

Community Reinvestment in South Florida
Cornell Crews, Jr., Executive Director, Community Reinvestment Alliance of South Florida

Dismantling Inequity in the Housing Appraisal Industry
Dr. Junia Howell, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

12:00pm – 2:00pm: Luncheon
Keynote – Dylcia Cornelious, Real Estate Agent
Mrs. Cornelious has more than 25 years of experience as a broker associate and was involved in a 2010 federal racial

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Join HOPE, Inc. for "Fair Housing 2024," our Broward Fair Housing Month celebration, held at the beautiful Le Méridien Dania Beach Hotel in Dania Beach, FL on Friday, April 5, 2024!

We are thrilled to present our keynote speaker, Ms. Leah Rothstein, co-author of “Just Action” and an expert in the full range of housing policy stemming from more than two decades of experience as a consultant to affordable housing developers and local governments, in addition to her work as a community and union organizer.

Please register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fair-housing-2024-tickets-801571190007 The password at the site is FH2024 (might as well tell you, or sending you to the site is useless 😄)
Thank you!

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Everyone needs a place to live. But historically, many groups have had trouble accessing shelter in the US because of discriminatory practices.

Though housing discrimination is illegal today, it still happens. By understanding how housing discrimination works and what your rights are, you'll be in a better position to speak up and fight back if you find yourself a victim of it.

What is housing discrimination?

Housing discrimination occurs when an individual is denied access to housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, or disability.

This doesn't just include instances where a landlord refuses to rent to certain groups or a mortgage lender only lends in certain neighborhoods. Things like

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We invite you to add us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn as we work towards eliminating housing discrimination!

Facebook

Click for page: HOPE, Inc. Fair Housing Center

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Click for page: @hope_fhc

LinkedIn

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 Certain neighborhoods – in South Florida, nationally, and internationally – strike residents and visitors as unrecognizable, compared to perhaps a decade earlier. Sometimes and in some ways, the changes are welcome…but that often depends on who you ask. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition says that gentrification is understood to be “a form of neighborhood change, resulting in the displacement of incumbent residents of one social class and culture by another more affluent class, linked with an increase in property values.”


In other words, typically in gentrification, residents of a low-income area get put out and richer people move in. In Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood, the gentrification is in high gear.

In Coconut Grove, the Black and White residents

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For years, the federal government supported the unwarranted denial of non-White people from housing opportunities. For example, since its founding in 1934, the Federal Housing Administration insured more than 40 million home loans, and for decades, due to pernicious, commonplace, and unchecked racism, these loans went almost exclusively to White people. Long story short, over time, this has led to generations of divestment, lost opportunities, lost fortunes, grave health disparities, and countless other irreversible consequences for Black individuals and families in the United States. This is just one of the many forms of discrimination woven into the country's housing and finance systems. The collective, devastating impact of this practice and other mechanisms has created

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On January 9, 2024, the Justice Department announced a settlement with three cooperative housing corporations in Hallandale Beach, Florida, to resolve allegations that they violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by discriminating against families with children.

The department’s lawsuit alleged that Isle of Paradise “B” Inc., Isle of Paradise “C” Inc. and Isle of Paradise “E” Inc. maintained and/or enforced policies prohibiting children under age 12 at their respective properties on an island known as the Isle of Paradise during certain times since 2015. The properties are 30-unit multifamily buildings known as the Monticello, at 450 Paradise Isle Blvd. (owned by Isle of Paradise “B” Inc.), the Georgetown, at 460 Paradise Isle Blvd. (owned by Isle of Paradise “C” Inc.) and the

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The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) waiting list will be opened on Monday, February 5, 2024, at 12:00 a.m. (Midnight) and will be closed on Monday February 19, 2024, at 11:59 p.m.

2024 HCV Waiting List Opening: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)
1) AM I ELIGIBLE?

Everyone age 18 and older is eligible to submit an application for the Miami-Dade County Public Housing and Community Development’s (PHCD) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Waiting List.

At the time of selection, applicant(s) must meet the program requirements and the income limits for the household composition established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD).

For more info, please visit: https://mdvoucher.com/en-US/Pages/View/3/waiting-list

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From the researchers and journalists at The Tributary, out of Jacksonville: a map of Florida showing segregation, based on the 2020 Census.

"...generally the closer you get to the ocean or major rivers, the whiter your community becomes. Take South Florida, where beach communities are the most likely to have larger white populations."

See more here: https://jaxtrib.org/2021/10/21/explore-floridas-diversity-and-segregation-with-the-tributarys-newest-tool/

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We invite you to add us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn as we work towards eliminating housing discrimination!

Facebook

Click for page: HOPE, Inc. Fair Housing Center

X (formerly called Twitter)

Click for page: @hope_fhc

Instagram

Click for page: @hope_fhc

LinkedIn

Click for page: Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE), Inc.

Thank you!

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If you go to a website where people can post homes or apartments for rent, it’s not uncommon to see an advertisement that says “No Section 8”. This means that the landlord is saying that they will not accept a lawful source of income that is government-issued to pay for rent. This is illegal, depending on the jurisdiction.

For more information, please go to: https://cunninghampllc.com/blog/what-is-source-of-income-discrimination/

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"Special purpose credit programs, which target credit to historically underserved communities and communities still living with the legacies of past discrimination, can also help alleviate homeownership inequities. ... In the 1950s, many white families took advantage of favorable lending terms that facilitated first-time home purchases — opportunities explicitly denied to families of color, which directly contributed to the inequities of the present."

See more on how HUD is addressing the legacies of discrimination at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-featd-article-111423.html

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HOPE is again participating in Give Miami Day, which will take place on Thursday, November 16, 2023. Only gifts made at https://www.givemiamiday.org/organization/hopefhc during the 24-hour online giving period (12 a.m. on November 16 through 12 a.m. on November 17) are considered eligible gifts for the event. On November 16th, please go to https://www.givemiamiday.org/organization/hopefhc to contribute to Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE), Inc.’s efforts to end housing discrimination!

All support is appreciated! Thank you!

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Rajee Narinesingh faced struggles throughout her life as a transgender woman, from workplace discrimination to the lasting effects of black market injections that scarred her face and caused chronic infections.

In spite of the roadblocks, the 56-year-old Florida actress and activist has seen growing acceptance since she first came out decades ago.

"If you see older transgender people, it shows the younger community that it's possible I can have a life. I can live to an older age," she said. "So I think that's a very important thing."

Now, as a wave of state laws enacted this year limit transgender people's rights, Narinesingh has new uncertainty about her own future as she ages.

"Every now and then I have this thought, like, oh my God, if I end up in a nursing home, how are

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This interactive tool, sponsored by HUD's Office of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity, guides users through best practices for assessing requests for reasonable accommodations for assistance animals: https://sites.hudexchange.info/housing-request-for-assistance-animals-interactive-tool/

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We invite you to add us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn as we work towards eliminating housing discrimination!

Facebook

Click for page: HOPE, Inc. Fair Housing Center

X (formerly called Twitter)

Click for page: @hope_fhc

Instagram

Click for page: @hope_fhc

LinkedIn

Click for page: Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE), Inc.

Thank you!

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While Economics 101 generally treats rent control as bad policy, a group of economists say that model is being proven wrong.

A group of economists and academics last week sent letters to the federal government, calling on the Biden administration to establish federal rent control and tenant protections for the 12 million renters nationwide living in properties with federally backed mortgages.

Signed by 32 economics and 143 academics, the letters complement a broader Homes Guarantee campaign launched by People’s Action, a national network of political organizations that aim to build power for working people.

“Nationally, median rent has surpassed $2,000 for the first time, and there is not a single state where a worker earning a full-time minimum wage salary can afford a modest

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Would you like to put your fair housing knowledge to the test? Check out the HOPE quiz and see what you know! Please click on the link that's right for your computer, PC (Windows) or Mac (Apple), to download our quiz -

PC users:

https://hopefhc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/HOPE-questions-for-PC-Please-save-to-desktop-and-open.zip

Mac users:

https://hopefhc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/HOPE-questions-for-Mac-Please-save-to-desktop-and-open.zip

The quiz is a Flash animation contained in ZIP files at the links above; please send an e-mail to Rob at [email protected] if you're having any issues accessing it. Thank you!

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HOUSING DISCRIMINATION IS ILLEGAL
The amended federal Fair Housing Act prohibits, nationally, any discrimination in the sale, rental, lending, insurance, or advertising of housing on the basis of: Race · Color · National Origin · Religion · Disability · Sex · Familial Status (as in whether or not you have children)

Florida’s fair housing laws provide protection against discrimination on these additional bases: HIV Status · Pregnancy

Miami-Dade County’s local fair

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