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.”

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.

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.

For example, in one of the nation’s youngest, most economically depressed regions, the Oglala Lakota nation is leveraging a Regional Planning Grant to catalyze an economic transformation of their community while holding true to their cultural values. Through the creation of the Thunder Valley CDC, the Oglala Lakota nation is managing a planning and revitalization effort that has leveraged the participation of multiple state and federal agencies. Currently, the planning process is setting the groundwork for a 34-acre sustainable planned development on the heart of the Pine Ridge Reservation that will provide homeownership opportunities, which have traditionally been lacking there. In addition, the Thunder Valley CDC is balance their community development and physical infrastructure work with a focus on enhancing programs for physical health (including healthy food and active living), mental health, and spiritual health efforts that bring healing to the Oglala Lakota people.

The hard work of the Thunder Valley CDC has been recognized by President Obama, who publicly saluted the CDC and its leadership for creating “a clean-energy community that will provide affordable housing for folks who need it and help more Lakota small businesses get off the ground.”

We are extremely proud to be recognized as a top government initiative!  We know this honor would not have been possible without the vision of President Obama, Secretary Donovan, DOT Secretary LaHood, and former EPA Administrator Jackson, and the hard work of our federal colleagues who work with us to help communities realize their vision for a more prosperous future.  However, this honor truly belongs to the 143 communities and the 150 million Americans in those communities who believe the future can be better than the past.  Our grantees are discovering that the partnerships created with private investors, philanthropic and community organizations, and local and regional governments are the catalysts that many of them needed to create long lasting change and economic sustainability for the future.

To read more about the Harvard recognition, see here.

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

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.

The goals of the SC2 Network are to:

• Provide a single portal for economically distressed communities to access a wide array of short-term technical assistance (both operational and programmatic);
• Develop a one-stop clearinghouse of federal, state, and local technical assistance programs that will be used to directly connect distressed communities to programs that are tailored to address their economic challenges;
• Deliver more intensive technical assistance to a limited number of economically distressed communities to support local priorities, such as improving the municipality’s credit rating, developing an economic development strategy, or updating workforce strategies to support small business development;
• Disseminate best practices, innovative solutions, and policy lessons across a range of organizations and decision-makers that can help shape or inform economic development, strategic planning, and program efforts; and
• Establish local resource networks and new public-private partnerships that will bring together cross-sector leadership and leverage existing community assets to help strengthen communities.

We look forward to working with the SC2 Network winning consortium to provide assistance to communities and cities throughout the country; and fostering a spirit of cooperation and sharing that helps improve local economic competitiveness and bring jobs and make a positive, long lasting impact in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

“Thoughts on the Housing Market Recovery,” prints Forbes.

The Hill reports, “Rep. Grimm: Sandy recovery ‘just starting.’”

“Underwater borrowers getting more time to refinance,” says the Sun Sentinel.

Housingwire posts, “Lawmakers fight to save financing for manufactured homes.”

More information at HUD.gov/FathersDay2013.

Dickey Anne and Arthur Cook, who remain underwater on the mortgage for their Corona house, used HARP to get a new loan that knocked nearly 2 percentage points off their interest rate and slashed their monthly payment by $480.
Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

Newsday reports, “Sandy, Irene, Lee damages: NY distributing $1.7B in HUD recovery funds.”

“Federal refi program for underwater homeowners hits its stride,” prints the Los Angeles Times.

The New York Times says, “Homeowners in Flood Zones Opt to Rebuild, Not Move.”

“Nearly 300 Volunteers Join Rebuilding Together Boston to Renovate Homes and Non-Profit Facilities on National Rebuilding Day,” writes The Business Review.

The attendees then joined the Get on the Bus:  The Path Toward Equal Housing Opportunity tour, which was a 3-hour guided tour of neighborhoods and communities within Louisville that played an important role in the fight for racial equality and how they evolved over the past five to six decades.  The tour guides were community leaders who had lived in Louisville and experienced the effects of the era’s segregation, protests, and discontent. Marshall Abstain, Merv Aubespin, Raoul Cunningham, Dr. Catherine Fosl, Charlene Holloway, and Walter Hutchins served as the guides.

Each year, HUD and its Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) partner agencies receive and investigate about 9,000 complaints alleging discrimination based on the Fair Housing Act’s seven prohibited bases: race, color, national origin, religion, gender, family status, and disability.  Last year, disability was the most common basis of complaints filed with HUD and Fair Housing Assistance Program agencies, cited as a basis for nearly half of all complaints.  Race was the second most common basis of complaints, cited as a basis for nearly 30 percent of all complaints.

Anyone who believes that his/her fair housing rights have been violated can file a complaint by calling 1-800-669-9777 (voice), 800-927-9275 (TTY). Additional information is available at www.hud.gov/fairhousing and through our new fair housing mobile application for iPhone and iPad users.

One year ago, the President established the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) that established an innovative new model of federal-local collaboration dedicated to assisting communities get back on their feet and create jobs by helping them better leverage federal resources and form key partnerships to implement economic visions. Teams of federal employees are embedded with seven Mayors across the country to provide tailored technical assistance to cut through red tape, increase government efficiency, and build partnerships to help local leaders implement sustainable economic plans.

A year later, we have learned a lot about collaboration, team work, and how the federal government can support local communities working as a team to get things done.

These lessons are outlined in the Strong Cities, Strong Communities Annual Report, which describes the impact of the SC2 Initiative and identifies emerging innovations that have the potential to be applied to many other communities working to strengthen their economies and job creation at the local level.

At a time when communities must accomplish more with every dollar of investment, SC2’s work in its first few years has already enabled communities to maximize the impact of more than $345 million in existing federal funds.

In addition to helping local governments tap into federal expertise, the work of the SC2 teams in pilot cities has identified best practices that will improve how the federal government partners with many other communities to support job training, economic development, safer neighborhoods, and improved public health outcomes.  The work has also demonstrated the value of cultivating deeper public-private partnerships, especially with businesses and philanthropy, as city governments look for new models to expand their capacity to serve residents.

More recently, in his State of the Union address, the President proposed to align his signature revitalization initiatives to ensure that federal programs and resources are focused on 20 communities that are suffering the most from the effects of the recession. As these “Promise Zones” are designated, SC2 will contribute to this effort, by helping local leaders navigate federal programs, cut red tape, use federal resources more effectively, and provide technical assistance.

As Co-Chairs of the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities, we are proud of what SC2 has achieved to date and are excited for the work that lies ahead.  In the coming months, SC2 will expand to additional cities, support the President’s proposal to designate “Promise Zones,” and announce the selection of an Administrator for the SC2 National Resource Network—a one-stop portal for communities seeking additional expertise to address their challenges.

With all of these efforts, SC2 is demonstrating that the federal government can be a strong partner to communities and local leaders. This partnership is especially critical to building ladders of opportunity for those working hard to make it into the middle class and stay in the middle class.

For a fuller picture of the SC2 initiative, feel free to read the entire report (click here to download), but some of the highlights include:

• CHESTER: The SC2 team helped facilitate an investment by a Philadelphia-based food-bank, Philabundance, to provide residents with low-cost, nutritious food in a supermarket-style food bank, addressing a major impediment to attracting investment and growth in the community. The project broke ground in late September 2012 and will provide the first new grocery store in the City for over a decade.
• CLEVELAND: The SC2 team and NASA, working with the City, County, and the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network, selected nine medium- to small-sized companies to receive a total of 400 hours of subject matter expertise and access to $450K in low-interest loans, which will allow them to grow their business and hire more employees.
• DETROIT: The SC2 team worked with the City of Detroit and the M-1 Rail investors to facilitate partnerships and lay the groundwork for a light rail system along the Woodward Corridor. M1-Rail is a consortium of Detroit area corporate business ventures, foundations and public and private institutions, which are committing over $100 million in funding to build and operate a 3.3 mile modern streetcar system on Woodward Avenue, the region’s primary north-south thoroughfare.   The project aims to link downtown Detroit, the region’s largest employment center, with the rapidly developing Midtown and New Center neighborhoods to the north, serving destinations such as Tiger Stadium, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Wayne State.  USDOT has pledged $25 million towards construction of the project.
• FRESNO: The SC2 team identified the opportunity to re-route the planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line through the City’s top priority area for downtown revitalization, which will also host the Nation’s first high-speed rail station. The new location will create a vibrant downtown transit-corridor that will help the Fresno maximize the economic impact from the BRT line and better leverage multiple federal investments.
• MEMPHIS: The SC2 team helped the City address small business funding needs in the community through the establishment of the Economic Growth and Development Engine (EDGE). Developed by the City and Shelby County with technical assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA), EDGE and its associated entities are capitalized at $16 million and include an Imprest Fund for smaller loans and a Growth Fund for needs exceeding $100,000.
• NEW ORLEANS: The SC2 team provided technical support to the City that accelerated the launch of a $52 million homebuyer assistance and neighborhood redevelopment initiative. This assistance reduced a significant amount of red tape, and helped get the funding out into the community. To date, more than 220 first-time home buyers have closed on homes through the initiative.
• YOUNGSTOWN:  The SC2 team worked with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to establish a Diagnostic Center to improve public safety by using data to gauge the scope of community challenges, recognize trends, establish baselines, and determine data‐driven strategies to increase public safety.

Shaun Donovan is the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cecilia Muñoz is Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.