May 17, 2013

Fair Housing Means EVERYONE

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By Public Affairs Staff

This past Wednesday, Secretary Donovan spoke to the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals (NAGLREP) and highlighted the many accomplishments the Administration and HUD have realized on behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender (LGBT) Americans:

HUD and this administration have taken historic steps in the area of housing to ensure that we fulfill our nation’s commitment to equality.

As part of its financial support for housing and urban development programs, HUD awards millions of dollars every year through competitive grant programs, funding that is announced by Notices of Funding Availability (or NOFAs).  HUD has long required that outstanding civil rights violations must be resolved before an applicant can be considered eligible to compete for funds. More recently, HUD added to its requirements that an eligible grantee may not have outstanding civil rights violations of a state or local law prohibiting housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
 
HUD has included similar anti-discrimination provisions in other areas. For example, some courts in Title VII civil rights challenges have applied principles of sex discrimination for gender stereotyping, which has provided limited but important civil rights protections for transgender individuals. Expanding on this in 2010, HUD formally adopted the principle that housing discrimination because of non-conformity with gender stereotypes – essentially gender identity discrimination – is sex discrimination under the Fair Housing Act.

The following year, HUD enacted an important rule:  Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity. This rule does four important things to ensure that LGBT persons are not excluded from HUD’s programs:

  • It creates a broad requirement that housing falling within these categories is made available without regard to actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
  • It clarifies HUD’s definitions of “family” and “household” and reaffirms that these include all persons regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.
  • It prohibits those funded by HUD or insured by FHA from asking about an applicant or occupant’s sexual orientation or gender identity for purposes of housing eligibility.
  • And finally, the rule prohibits FHA approved lenders from basing eligibility determinations for FHA-insured loans on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Earlier this year, HUD reached a historic agreement with Bank of America (BofA) to settle allegations the mortgage lender refused to provide financing to a lesbian couple and had illegally based its denial on the couple’s sexual orientation and marital status.

Moving forward, HUD will continue to aggressively investigate these kinds of violations. And, using our research arm, we’ll study and monitor trends in fair housing.   Next month HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research will release the first ever study of Housing Discrimination Against Same-Sex Couples.

As Secretary Donovan said to National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals, “Housing opportunities should be available to ALL persons.”

May 16, 2013

Countdown to Father’s Day 2013!

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In nearly one month from today – June 15th – more than 200 public housing authorities across the country will host Father’s Day events as part of a HUD Initiative to reconnect fathers and their children who live in public housing or surrounding communities.  These events also offer an opportunity to link dads with employment, health and educational resources in their community. HUD’s Father’s Day initiative is part of a larger Obama Administration effort to promote responsible fatherhood.  In his first term, President Obama started a National Conversation on Responsible Fatherhood and Strong Communities and made the issue of fatherhood and at-risk youth a priority for the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.  President Obama has been one of our nation’s leaders on issues related to responsible fatherhood and he knows firsthand the power that fathers can have in the lives of their children, and the challenges families and communities face without committed fathers.

With Father’s Day just 30 days away, we are encouraging willing partners to join our effort by scheduling a “story hour” for fathers and kids at your local library or joining an your local Girls or Boys Club or YMCA at an event that’s already in the works.  There may be volunteer opportunities for fathers and their children elsewhere in your community. Making these simple connections is worth the effort to promote the importance of fathers in a child’s life if you can help keep even one child from dropping out of school, using drugs or committing a crime, which statistics show are more likely to happen when children grow up without a father or father-figure in their lives.  So, mark your calendars!  Read more about HUD’s Father’s Day 2013 Initiative and the White House’s Fatherhood initiative at www.fatherhood.gov.

May 9, 2013

HUD’s Sustainable Communities Initiative Recognized by Harvard’s Kennedy School as a Top 25 Innovation In Government

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On May 1, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government recognized HUD’s Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI) as one of this year’s Top 25 programs in its Innovations in American Government Award competition.  This competition is the nation’s preeminent award devoted to recognizing and promoting excellence and creativity in the public sector.

HUD’s SCI was created to help build strong and resilient communities through a more integrated planning process that connects housing and transportation options to job centers. This planning will help the average American family alleviate their housing and transportation costs. By partnering with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, SCI is creating communities that are economically prosperous, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable, by connecting housing to jobs, fostering local innovation, and supporting energy-efficient and healthy affordable housing. In addition, SCI has been pioneering an approach to community and economic development that is helping regions increase their economic competitiveness.  This initiative is encouraging comprehensive regional planning to guide state, metropolitan, and local investments in job creation, transportation, and housing through Regional Planning Grants and Community Challenge Grants. The SCI grants awarded in 2010 and 2011 are projected to impact one third of the U.S. population.

One of the most innovative aspects of the Sustainable Communities Initiative is that it is not only impacting urban communities, but also rural communities.  More than 40 percent of HUD Sustainable Communities Grants have been awarded to smaller regions and rural places with less than 50,000 people. In some cases through the SCI planning process, rural and tribal communities will finally obtain a supermarket, a bank, and other necessities that we take for granted. Continue reading →

May 7, 2013

HUD and City of Barberton (OH) settle fair housing discrimination claim involving group home

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the City of Barberton settled a claim after a five-month dispute over the expansion of a group home.

The city will grant the permit and pay $4,250 to the home’s owners and an attorney, according to the settlement released Monday.

The city’s planning department initially granted a conditional permit for the home to expand from four to eight residents. The citizen-led planning commission later denied the permit due to neighborhood opposition.

The owners of the Rehoboth Group home, with the help of the non-profit Fair Housing Advocates Association, filed a complaint with the federal agency on Nov. 30 calling the denial discriminatory and a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

Read more at the Cleveland Plain Dealer

May 2, 2013

HUD Announces Winning Consortium to Operate the Strong Cities, Strong Communities National Resource Network

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I am pleased to announce that HUD has selected a consortium that includes Enterprise Community Partners, Public Financial Management (PFM), HR&A Advisors, Inc., NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the International City/County Management Association, Inc., to run and operate the Strong Cities, Strong Communities National Resource Network (SC2 Network).  The SC2 Network, funded with HUD technical assistance resources, will provide communities with targeted technical assistance to help support locally identified priorities for economic growth and job creation.

The recent economic recession left many communities throughout the country struggling with ways in which to become economically competitive again.  Through the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative, this administration has been partnering with cities that have been suffering from disinvestment and a wide range of socio-economic factors to become more economically viable and help create jobs.

Just last week, the Administration released the first SC2 Annual Report, which details the accomplishments of the initiative, to date.  The report highlights that many of these communities are coming back and stronger than ever, and their economic resurgence is being led by policies that encourage sharing information, best practices, experiences, and resources with other cities and regions. Learning from those experiences, through SC2, HUD has been working to create a SC2 Network which will serve as a “one-stop” shop for economically distressed communities to access a wide array of short-term technical assistance. Continue reading →