An Alaska group received a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In 1968 the Fair Housing Act was created to prevent landlords from discriminating. Although times are significantly different, there is still discrimination which prevents some people from getting housing. In a report published by the US HUD, in 2010 there were over ten thousand housing discrimination complaints filed. The highest percentage of complaints were filed based on disability at 48 percent followed by race at 34 percent and marital status at 15 percent.
HUD awarded more than $38 million in 2014 to more than 120 fair housing organizations. These grants are part of the Fair housing Initiatives Program which is intended to enforce the Fair Housing Act through investigations of potential discriminatory practices and help educate housing providers, local governments and potential victims of discrimination.
The Alaska Legal Services Corporation was awarded $250,000 from the Fair Housing Initiatives Program. Executive director of Alaska Legal Services Nikole Nelson says this is the first project in Alaska to receive money from the Fair Housing program.
“They’re very competitive applications, last year ALSC put in an application, we received a really high score I believe 98 out of 100 points and there was only enough funding for one additional organization so we didn’t receive the funding last year. And so we tried again this year and we’re one of two organizations that were funded for this particular funding stream.”
In the application, certain requirements had to be met before the grant was awarded. Nelson says a history of discrimination and proof that ALSC could raise more funds in the community to contribute to the grant are among the requirements the group met.
“So one of the things that really helped us be successful this year, I believe, is that our community partners really rallied together to help us show that we had the community support and the leveraging dollars that would really stretch those federal dollars.”
ALSC provides direct assistance to victims of housing discrimination by receiving complaints, conducting investigations and educating the community about fair housing. The Fair Housing Initiatives Program grant will go toward building the non-profit housing organizations. Nelson says the yearlong project will include education and outreach on the Fair Housing Act and the rights available to residents.
“A lot of the work under the grant will be community education about the rights and remedies under the Fair Housing Act. And also we intend to start a testing program. And what a testing program is is where you sort of do a secret shopper or blind testing where you go into certain areas and find out if housing and landlords are actually complying with the Fair Housing Act or if there are violations, if they are discriminating against folks based on ethnicity, disability or marital status.”
Those who believe they’ve experienced discrimination may file a complaint by contacting HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at 800-669-9777.