Fair Housing Enforcement Programs Defunded by Feds?!?!

Without people educating people and helping them through the process, no one will file complaints! A landlord’s dream. An equity, social and racial justice nightmare. Tenant Resource Center refers to the Fair Housing Center all the time, they are the experts in a complex area of the law. We need them! Please call your representatives.

MESSAGE FROM FAIR HOUSING CENTERS
Friends:

We know that racial discrimination and segregation remain as major issues faced by our city, state, and country.  Your action is needed immediately.  TODAY, the House of Representatives is poised to ELIMINATE funding for the HUD’s Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI).  PEI briefly described below, is the major source of funding for most fair housing organizations’ work to enforce the fair housing law, a law that at the federal level not only prohibits discrimination based on race, but also prohibits discrimination based on disability/handicap, color, gender, national origin, religion, or family status.

See the message below Bill’s PEI description for more details, but here is the URGENT request:

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE: Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative’s office.  You can use the talking points below.  Ask to speak to the staffer who handles appropriations.  If you are sent to voicemail, please leave a detailed message.

• Tell your Representative to VOTE NO on

1. Rep. Steve Stiver’s amendment to stop private enforcement of the Fair Housing Act
2. Rep. Paul Gosar’s amendment stopping HUD from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing HUD’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule.
3. Rep. Scott Garrett’s amendment to stop HUD from enforcing its disparate impact rule.

Bethany Sanchez
Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council

FYI – The Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI) referred to below is how HUD provides funding to private fair housing organizations to conduct investigations in response to complaints from persons alleging fair housing law violations and for fair housing testing organizations to conduct systemic investigations to uncover institution forms of housing discrimination.  MMFHC  receives funding to conduct these activities under the PEI funding component.

William R. Tisdale
President and CEO
Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council
600 E. Mason Street, Suite 401
Milwaukee, WI 53202
www.fairhousingwisconsin.com

TAKE ACTION NOW – FAIR HOUSING IS UNDER HEAVY ATTACK ON THE HOUSE FLOOR TODAY

We need your help to fight back several attacks to protect the very infrastructure of fair housing in the United States.  At around 11 AM, the House of Representatives will take up recorded votes on at least one of three possible amendments to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) appropriations bill that would prohibit your organizations and HUD from effectively enforcing the Fair Housing Act.

• Rep. Steve Stiver’s (R-OH) offered an amendment late last night to prohibit the funding of the Private Enforcement Initiative component of the Fair Housing Initiatives Program.  This amendment was sneakily offered after midnight when few Members were present to speak against it.
• Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) will introduce an amendment to stop HUD from finalizing its “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing “(AFFH) regulation.
• Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) will introduce another amendment to prohibit HUD from enforcing its disparate impact rule.  This is different from the amendment that Rep. Garrett offered to the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill.

Now more than ever we need every NFHA member to help protect PEI funding under FHIP, and HUD’s AFFH and disparate impact rules. 

1. CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE: Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative’s office.  Use the talking points below.  Ask to speak to the staffer who handles appropriations.  If you are sent to voicemail, please leave a detailed message.

• Tell your Representative to VOTE NO on

1. Rep. Steve Stiver’s amendment to stop private enforcement of the Fair Housing Act
2. Rep. Paul Gosar’s amendment stopping HUD from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing HUD’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule.
3. Rep. Scott Garrett’s amendment to stop HUD from enforcing its disparate impact rule.

Please use the talking points below.

EMAIL: Whether or not you actually speak to the staffer, please be sure to follow up with an email with the attached

• House email addresses are:  FirstName.LastName@mail.house.gov.
• Send the alert below to your Representative.

Thanks so much!!
Jorge

EMAIL THE ALERT BELOW TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVES NOW!
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VOTE “NO” ON STIVERS, GOSAR, AND GARRETT ANTI-FAIR HOUSING AMENDMENTS TO T-HUD APPROPRIATIONS BILL (H.R. 2577)

VOTE “NO” on Rep. Steve Stivers’ (OH-15) amendment that would prohibit funding for grants to private organizations to protect the fair housing rights of families with children and people with disabilities. 

Rep. Steve Stivers’ amendment would prohibit the use of Private Enforcement Initiatives (PEI) grant funds under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP).  Enforcement funding under the FHIP program is used to vet complaints that have no merit before they reach the courts, saving the federal government important resources that could be used elsewhere.  In 2014, the American public reported 27,528 complaints of housing discrimination, and nonprofit fair housing organizations funded by the PEI component of the FHIP program investigated 69% of all reported complaints.  Nearly 63 percent of all complaints were made by people with disabilities, including veterans, and families with children.  Nonprofit private fair housing organizations assist the federal government in protecting the rights of these victims of discrimination, and HUD, state and local government agencies, and the Department of Justice often rely upon the testing capacity of FHIP-funded organizations to further investigate complaints of housing discrimination.  According to HUD, 71% of cases in which a FHIP organization is a complainant result in conciliation or a cause versus 37% of non-FHIP referred cases.

VOTE “NO” on Rep. Paul Gosar’s (AZ-4) amendment that would stop HUD from providing long-awaited guidance to help local governments advance opportunity and achieve their housing goals.

Rep. Paul Gosar’s amendment would prohibit HUD from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing its “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule (FR-5173-P-01), keeping local governments from achieving the best results from their federally-assisted housing and community development dollars.  Where you live determines many of your life outcomes: the school your children can attend; the access you have to efficient transportation that gets you to and from a good-paying job; and the kind of physical environment that can affect your health.  HUD’s AFFH Rule acts on the recommendations of the GAO and provides a process and data to help local governments develop local solutions that address barriers to opportunity.

VOTE “NO” on Rep. Scott Garrett’s (NJ-5) amendment that would stop HUD from using a critical civil rights tool to protect American families from housing discrimination.

Rep. Scott Garrett’s amendment attempts to eliminate this decades-old protection for American families by blocking HUD from enforcing its Discriminatory Effects rule (24 CFR 100.500)  regarding the use of the disparate impact standard under the Fair Housing Act to challenge housing discrimination.  Rep. Garrett’s amendment would stop HUD from challenging discriminatory obstacles that keep victims of domestic violence in harms way, burden families with children, and perpetuate segregation.  The Fair Housing Act and its protections have enjoyed bipartisan support for over four decades.  Originally adopted by the Nixon Administration as an enforcement tool, the disparate impact standard has been relied upon by Republican and Democratic Administrations to address widespread discrimination in housing.  Disparate impact has been recognized by all 11 Circuit Courts that have ruled on it, and HUD’s adoption of a disparate impact rule promotes a uniform legal analysis in all federal enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.

Jorge Andres Soto
Director of Public Policy
National Fair Housing Alliance
1101 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 710
Washington, DC 20005
Office: (202) 898-1661 ext 139
Cell: (310) 686-3198
Fax: (202) 371-9744