 |
- Latest news item posted on 07/08/2008 at 02:21 PM
- Submit a job announcement, news item, press release or event info.
- We have a new message board! Please visit.
- Attention fair housing agencies: Our agency finder now allows us to tell web site users your service area. Please feel free to contact us so that we can add that information to your record. If we don't have you in our agency finder yet, please use the contact form to tell us about you!
-
New job listings: There are lots of new jobs - check them out.
- Watch the June 12, 2008 House hearings before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties on "Enforcement of the Fair Housing Act of 1968" here.
Ohio high court rules housing authority not liable in racial disputes
(AKRON, Ohio, July 08, 2008)
-- In a unanimous decision today, the Supreme Court of Ohio sided with a Summit County Common Pleas Court judge who ruled that landlords in federally subsidized housing are not liable under Ohio's civil rights statutes for failing to intervene in racial disputes among tenants.
The decision overturns a decision by the Ninth District Court of Appeals in a case that began in October 2001, when Fontella Harper filed a complaint with the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority about her neighbors in Van Buren Homes in Barberton.
Harper, who is black, complained that her neighbors, Beverly Kaisk and her family, who are white, were harassing Harper and her family, using racial epithets and threats of violence.
FULL STORY in The Akron Beacon Journal
Mayor: End of regional agreements 'a disaster' for city
(MIDDLETOWN, N.J., July 02, 2008)
-- Middletown Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger reacted strongly this week to the passage of legislation that spells an end to the township's use of Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA) to help fulfill its affordable housing obligation.
"I can't overstate how damaging this is going to be to Middletown," Scharfenberger said Monday. "It's a disaster."
Scharfenberger said he would not take the Legislature's decision to end RCAs lying down.
According to Scharfenberger, he, along with officials from surrounding municipalities, will hold a press conference to announce a "plan of action" in response to the legislation.
With the passage of bills in both the Assembly and Senate, municipalities like Middletown will have to look within their boundaries to build affordable housing.
FULL STORY in The Independent
Florida Attorney General files lawsuit against Countrywide Financial
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla., July 01, 2008)
-- Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against Countrywide Financial, one of the nation’s largest mortgage companies, for allegedly engaging in deceptive and unfair trade practices. The Attorney General’s lawsuit claims Countrywide put borrowers into mortgages they couldn't afford or loans with rates and penalties that were misleading. Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo was also named in the lawsuit.
“It is unthinkable that a company would try to take advantage of someone’s dream of homeownership,” said Attorney General McCollum. “Florida homeowners who are trying to protect their homes from foreclosures shouldn’t have to worry about their mortgage brokers or lenders unfairly profiting at their expense.”
Similar to other mortgage lenders, Countrywide attempted to generate large numbers of mortgage loans for resale on the secondary mortgage market. In doing so, the company purportedly originated loans with little concern about whether the borrower could afford and maintain payments on these loans. In the process, the company allegedly eased or ignored its own underwriting standards and encouraged borrowers to enter into “teaser” rates while concealing or misrepresenting that much larger payments would become due.
PRESS RELEASE by the Florida Attorney General
Lawsuit alleges code evictions targeted Latinos
(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., July 01, 2008)
-- It was just getting dark on the night of the March 8, 2006, raid.
Elena Diego was cooking dinner in the three-bedroom apartment she shared with her husband and five children in Lake Worth. There was loud pounding on the door and suddenly several uniformed men swarmed into her kitchen: At least two were Lake Worth police officers and two were city code enforcers who started snapping photos.
In federal court documents, Diego said her family was told to wait in the parking lot, where they found about 100 of their neighbors waiting while their apartments also were being inspected. Diego testified that a voice announced through a police car loudspeaker that they had 30 minutes to leave their homes and that the city was shutting off the electricity and water. Anyone who stayed behind would be arrested.
There was no other explanation.
Diego said in court documents that the men did not tell them they "had the right to refuse entry and they did not tell us what it was they were inspecting."
The Diegos are one of seven families who filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Lake Worth for violating their constitutional rights and federal fair housing laws for the "discriminatory conduct" and "selective use of code enforcement procedures" against Latino and Guatemalan neighborhoods to force people to evacuate their homes. It also said the city used "police officers to coerce or intimidate" people to leave "with little or no notice."
FULL STORY in The Sun-Sentinel
Sober house vote set in St. Paul
(ST. PAUL, Minn., June 30, 2008)
-- After months of discussion, the St. Paul city council is set to vote on an ordinance regulating sober houses on Wednesday.
City councilmember Russ Stark explained in a telephone interview that, at present, “There’s no registration per se. There’s 34 or 35 sober houses that have been identified, meaning they have self-identified with the building inspectors. There’s likely to be more than that out there.”
Under St. Paul zoning laws, any housing unit can have up to four unrelated adults. The Federal Fair Housing Act protects people with disabilities, requiring that the city make reasonable accommodations for them.
“With the new proposal,” Stark said, “there would be a form that a new sober house would be asked to fill out — a request for reasonable accommodation form. It would ask how many residents would be living in the unit and basic contact information for the operator. It would also include information about parking. It’s a request for reasonable accommodation to bypass the 4-adult limit.”
FULL STORY in The Daily Planet
State anti-bias commission regains HUD funding
(LINCOLN, Neb., June 30, 2008)
-- The federal government will restore funding to a state commission that fights housing discrimination.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended funding to the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission in April.
Federal officials worried that a monthslong rift between the commission and Attorney General Jon Bruning would keep some people, particularly illegal immigrants, from getting protection the law guarantees.
FULL STORY by Action 3 News
|
