Durbin: Every American Deserves Equal Access to Housing

Press Release

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) yesterday introduced legislation that nearly triples funding for fair housing programs including the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Specific activities that will be funded under The Housing Fairness Act of 2007 include the processing of complaints, the investigation of cases of housing discrimination, and the development and operation of education and outreach programs to educate the general public of fair housing rights.

"Some may ask why take this action now? Every American deserves equal access to housing, yet millions of fair housing violations occur each year and the discrimination continues to worsen," said Durbin. "The Fair Housing Initiatives Program plays a vital role in fighting housing discrimination. Without the significant increase in funding proposed in today's legislation, the program will not be able to operate effectively."

Nearly four million fair housing violations occur annually against African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and Asian Pacific Islanders alone. Millions of additional violations are committed against people in the protected classes under the Fair Housing Act: family status, disability, religion, color, race, sex and national origin. Additionally, recent investigations of real estate agents uncovered an 87% rate of racial steering and a 20% rate of denial for African-American and Latino perspective homeowners.

The FHIP funds fair housing organizations and other non-profit groups to provide vital services to their communities. These services include education enforcement programs to assist consumers in recognizing and reporting housing discrimination and to conduct investigations of housing discrimination complaints.

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