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- Latest news item posted on 02/06/2012 at 08:16 AM
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Dayton slowly moving toward integration
(DAYTON, Ohio, Feb. 06, 2012)
-- Dayton ranks among the nation’s most segregated cities, even as a pair of studies last week found segregation has declined significantly since 1970, and Hispanics are faring better here than in virtually any other market in the country.
Dayton ranked fifth among the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas for Hispanic integration and achievement.
“Dayton did very well,” noted Margery Turner, vice president of research for the Urban Institute, which measured employment, home ownership, education and integration patterns among minority groups. “But that’s based on a tiny Hispanic population of only about 2 percent. And the gap between African-Americans and whites in the Dayton area is very wide.”
In the same study, Dayton ranked 80th for what it termed black-white equity, putting the region in the bottom fifth along with Cleveland and Cincinnati.
FULL STORY at middletownjournal.com
Eldery Center Point woman may be evicted, apartment too dirty
(CENTER POINT, Ala., Feb. 03, 2012)
-- An elderly woman in Jefferson County says she's on the verge of being put out on the street for what she says is out of her control.
For 28 years, 74-year-old Jo Ann Jones has lived at Chalkville Manor apartments in Center Point.
She says during all those years she's paid her rent on time.
However, recently, her home didn't pass the apartment complex's inspection and now she's been served eviction papers.
Ms. Jones is being evicted because her home wasn't considered clean enough and a hazard.
"It was messy and cluttered. Part of the reason is that one of my daughters has recently lost her apartment," Jones said.
FULL STORY at alabamas13.com
Palmdale settles suit alleging Section 8 housing discrimination
(PALMDALE, Calif., Feb. 03, 2012)
-- The city of Palmdale has agreed to settle a civil rights lawsuit accusing it of harassing and evicting nonwhite recipients of federal housing subsidies, officials announced Thursday.
The announcement came the same day a federal judge denied attempts by Palmdale and neighboring Lancaster to dismiss the lawsuit. In announcing the settlement, Palmdale officials insisted that they had done nothing wrong and said that settling would cost less than a court battle.
The lawsuit was filed in June by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. It claims that officials used housing investigators, who are partially funded by Los Angeles County, and sheriff's deputies in a campaign to drive primarily black residents from government-subsidized housing.
Under the terms of the settlement, Palmdale will surrender all Section 8 compliance and policing responsibilities to the Los Angeles County Housing Authority. The city also agreed not to seek information on the identity of Section 8 participants.
FULL STORY at latimes.com
Court excepts roommate site from housing bias laws
(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 03, 2012)
-- A website that matches prospective roommates is entitled to screen applicants by sexual orientation and gender because housing discrimination laws don't apply within a household, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
Applying civil rights laws to living arrangements inside a home or apartment "would allow the government to restrict our ability to choose roommates compatible with our lifestyles," said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. "This would be a serious invasion of privacy, autonomy and security."
The court ordered dismissal of a suit by two civil rights organizations in Southern California against Roommate.com. The Phoenix website requires prospective users to disclose their sex, sexual orientation and family status and say whether they would be willing to live with straight or gay men or women, or with children.
FULL STORY at sfgate.com
Rejected shelter project spurs debate over Georgetown housing
(GEORGETOWN, Del., Feb. 02, 2012)
-- A decision by Georgetown leaders to reject a new homeless shelter has outraged fair housing advocates and sparked an emotional debate over regulation of similar housing in town.
The town council voted unanimously to deny a conditional use permit for the Crisis House Shelter at its meeting on Jan. 25. The shelter wants to replace its aging building with a new structure several blocks away from the current site.
"We thought we were better liked in the town," said Marie Morole, executive director of the organization that oversees the shelter. "We thought we had a lot more respect and fulfilled a need and a purpose."
Morole said the new shelter would be the same size as the existing structure. A local family planned to donate the new building, except for interior features, she said. Crews would build on a vacant field next to the organization's headquarters in Georgetown. The project would also include several transitional housing apartments.
FULL STORY at wboc.com
Independence woman pleads guilty to hate crime
(INDEPENDENCE, MO., Feb. 02, 2012)
-- An Independence woman accused of trying to drive a biracial man from a neighborhood on U.S. 40 by vandalizing and setting fire to his mobile home pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court.
Teresa Witthar, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, one count of violating the Fair Housing Act, and one count of obstruction of justice, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
Investigators said that Witthar was part of a group who were determined to get Nathaniel Reed, who is biracial, out of the Highland Manor Mobile Home Park, 17311 E. U.S. 40 in 2006. The group entered Reed’s home and wrote racial slurs on the walls, and a few days later, the indictment alleges, Witthar got gasoline to start a fire at Reed’s home.
FULL STORY at examiner.net
Norwich study finds shortage in handicapped-accessible housing
(NORWICH, Conn., Jan. 31, 2012)
-- A new study of fair housing in Norwich shows that some neighborhoods have disproportionately high minority populations compared to the city's overall population, and there is a glaring shortage of fully handicapped accessible apartments and homes.
The draft study of "Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice" recommends monitoring and testing of real estate agencies and education of landlords and residents to ensure that illegal "steering" of minorities or whites either into or away from certain neighborhoods is not occurring.
The public has 30 days to submit comments before the study has to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on March 1.
Gary Evans, supervisor of the city community development office, and author of the study that compiled the statistics from the U.S. Census, Department of Labor and other sources, said Monday that discrepancies between the overall city population and certain concentrated urban areas stood out.
FULL STORY at theday.com
Interfaith housing center settles with Evanston landlords in housing discrimination lawsuit
(CHICAGO, Jan. 31, 2012)
-- A Chicago-based fair housing advocacy group reached a settlement with Bernsen Management after accusing local landlords of housing discrimination in a federal lawsuit.
The Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs, which filed the suit in federal court last spring, said landlords Barry and Barbara Bernsen would only rent their Sherman Avenue properties to Northwestern students, discriminating against families and non-students.
"With this settlement, the message to Evanston landlords is loud and clear: This town cannot tolerate two private rental markets, one for students and one for families," said Gail Schechter, the organization's executive director.
Interfaith received a complaint from an NU student who wanted to sublet her unit but was told she could only sublet to students, Schechter said, ""so we decided that we wanted test it and check it out."
FULL STORY at dailynorthwestern.com
Parish accused of limiting housing for African-Americans
(NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 31, 2012)
-- The U.S. Department of Justice has sued St. Bernard Parish, accusing it of a multi-year campaign to limit rental housing for African-Americans after Hurricane Katrina.
Parish President David Peralta was not immediately available for comment on the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans. It involves ordinances and zoning regulations enacted under previous administrations.
The lawsuit, filed by the Department of Justice late Tuesday, said the parish set up a difficult approval process for single-family rentals, eliminated multifamily housing in much of the parish and repeatedly tried to block development of affordable apartment complexes.
It also said a federal judge ruled in October that the parish had discriminated against blacks. That earlier suit was brought by nonprofit organization the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, rather than the government.
FULL STORY at wdsu.com
Justice Department Charges St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana for Limited Rental Housing Opportunities for African-Americans
(Washington, D.C., Jan. 31, 2012)
-- WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit against St. Bernard Parish, La., alleging that the parish violated the Fair Housing Act by engaging in a multi-year campaign to limit rental housing opportunities for African-Americans in the parish.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, alleges that the parish violated the Fair Housing Act when it took repeated actions to limit the availability of multi-family and rental housing in the parish. These actions include the establishment of an onerous permit-approval process for single-family rentals, the elimination of multi-family housing in large portions of the parish and repeated attempts to block the development of multi-family affordable-housing. The complaint alleges that the parish’s actions both were intended to and had the effect of disproportionately disadvantaging African-Americans seeking to rent housing in St. Bernard Parish.
The parish has been sued previously over housing and land-use decisions since Hurricane Katrina and found in contempt of court orders repeatedly. In October 2011, a federal district court found that the parish had engaged in intentional discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act by “doggedly attempt[ing] to preserve the pre-Katrina demographics of St. Bernard Parish.”
Justice Departmrnt Press Release
New HUD Policy Extends Discrimination Protections to Gay and Lesbian Community
(WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2012)
-- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan will unveil a new HUD policy to fight discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in federally supported housing programs.
The new rules, to be published the week of January 29, aim to help LGBT people and their families to stay in their homes, get loans to buy homes, and access federal assistance programs.
Donovan made the announcement at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, the country's largest annual gathering of LGBT rights advocates. He is the first sitting Cabinet secretary in history to speak at this conference.
"Each of us here knows that rights most folks take for granted are routinely violated against LGBT people," Donovan said at the conference.
FULL STORY at City Biz Real Estate
Holyoke apartment building subject of federal discrimination charge
(HOLYOKE, Mass., Jan. 29, 2012)
-- The federal government has filed discrimination charges against the former owner of an apartment building at 728 Hampden St. in a case involving family rights and lead-free paint certification.
Nilma Y. Fichera, of North Babylon, N.Y., owner of N.A.G. Realty LLC, refused to show or rent apartments to families with children because she was unable to certify the building was free of lead paint, said a press release Wednesday from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Fair Housing Act requires that if a family chooses to live in an apartment, even though family members have been advised the unit hasn’t undergone lead-paint treatment, the owner is prohibited from denying the family the right to occupy the unit just because the family has children, HUD documents show.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, lead exposure can cause nervous system and kidney damage, poor muscle coordination, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder and speech, language and behavior problems
FULL STORY at Mass Live.com
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