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- Latest news item posted on 06/12/2013 at 08:34 AM
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- Please welcome our new partner, the Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia.
- New! We have the full text of cases announced in the newly revived Fair Housing-Fair Lending bulletin. If you are a subscriber to our case database, you can just enter the FH-FL case number to view it. (If you're not, you should be!)
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Racial and ethnic minorities face more subtle housing discrimination
(WASHINGTON, June 12, 2013)
-- Blatant acts of housing discrimination faced by minority homeseekers continue to decline in the U.S., yet more subtle forms of housing denial stubbornly persist, according to a new summary study released today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Urban Institute. Housing Discrimination Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012 finds African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians learn about fewer housing options than equally qualified whites.
Real estate agents and rental housing providers recommend and show fewer available homes and apartments to minority families, thereby increasing their costs and restricting their housing options. The study concludes this is a national, not a regional, phenomenon.
“Fewer minorities today may be getting the door slammed in their faces, but we continue to see evidence of housing discrimination that can limit a family’s housing, economic and educational opportunities,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “It’s clear we still have work to do to end housing discrimination once and for all.”
FULL STORY at realestaterama.com
HUD settles claim alleging B of A and Fannie Mae discriminated against people with disabilities
(WASHINGTON, June 07, 2013)
-- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it has reached a Conciliation Agreement with Bank of America and Fannie Mae, settling allegations that the Charlotte, NC-based lender and Fannie Mae violated the Fair Housing Act by denyinga borrower’s application to modify her mortgage loan because she did not provide sufficient information about the nature of her disability. The woman was applying for a loan modification through the Obama Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to deny or discriminate in the terms and conditionsof a mortgage or loan modification based on disability, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or familial status.
“People with disabilities should not have to answer unnecessary questions about the nature of their disability when seeking a loan modification,” said Bryan Greene, HUD General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD will continue to take action against lenders that subject persons with disabilities to discriminatory practices.”
FULL STORY at realestaterama.com
Fair housing advocates announce $27 million settlement with Wells Fargo
(MILWAUKEE, June 06, 2013)
-- The National Fair Housing Council and 13 of its affiliates, including the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council, announced on Thursday an agreement on a federal housing discrimination complaint filed in April 2012 against Wells Fargo bank.
Under the agreement, Wells Fargo will provide $27 million to the council and its affiliates in Milwaukee and 18 other areas to promote home ownership, neighborhood stabilization, property rehabilitation and development in minority communities.
The groups will use the money to provide down-payment assistance to owner-occupants seeking to purchase homes in targeted neighborhoods as well as renovation efforts for homes that languished in foreclosure.
The bias complaint alleged that Wells Fargo's real estate-owned properties in white areas were better maintained and marketed by Wells Fargo than properties in black and Latino neighborhoods. Real estate-owned properties are homes that have gone through foreclosure and are owned by banks, investors, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mae, the Federal Housing Administration or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
FULL STORY at jsonline.com
Hearing held in lawsuit against polygamous towns
(SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 06, 2013)
-- The issue of exactly when the U.S. Department of Justice learned of an alleged pattern of housing discrimination against non-members of Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect is the focal point of the latest development in a civil rights lawsuit aimed at polygamous towns on the Arizona-Utah border.
Attorneys for both sides argued the point during a federal court hearing Wednesday to address a motion from the towns to dismiss the government's request to seek monetary damages and civil penalties.
In backing that claim, Blake Hamilton, the attorney representing the towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah., said the government must have known of at least three incidents of housing discrimination that occurred in the mid-2000s. He said that means monetary damages and civil penalties are barred because of the three-year statute of limitations in the case, which was filed a year ago.
FULL STORY at havasunews.com
HUD announces resolution of REO issues with Wells Fargo
(WASHINGTON, June 06, 2013)
-- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that Wells Fargo Bank N.A., the National Fair Housing Alliance, 13 private fair housing organizations and Acting Assistant Secretary Bryan Greene have reached an agreement through which Wells Fargo will invest in efforts designed to help improve housing in minority neighborhoods that have been hard hit by the foreclosure crisis. As part of the agreement, Wells Fargo has committed to invest a total of $39 million in 45 communities across the country through various programs to support home ownership, neighborhood stabilization, property rehabilitation and housing development.
Wells Fargo also has committed to ongoing enhancements in its best practices regarding the maintenance and marketing of Real Estate Owned (REO) properties after foreclosure. This includes use of a revised Real Estate Broker Procedure Manual and property inspection checklist, and an enhanced training program for real estate brokers and agents who list REO properties. Further, Wells Fargo staff who are responsible for managing REO will also take the training.
In addition, Wells Fargo will extend the amount of time that individual REO properties will be exclusively available for purchase by an owner-occupant or a non-profit organization to increase the chance that the house will be acquired by an owner-occupant.
FULL STORY at realestaterama.com
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