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| WA State FAIR HOUSING UPDATE: March 2005 |
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Ten Years of Service by Lauren Walker, Fair Housing Center of South Puget Sound The Fair Housing Center of South Puget Sound and Northwest Fair Housing Alliance are celebrating their ten year anniversaries. Early Days of the Fair Housing Advocacy Agencies In September 1994, the Northwest Fair Housing Alliance (NWFHA) began formal operations as a nonprofit organization, achieving 501(c)3 status in April 1995 at which time they received a two year Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) grant from the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Subsequently, they have received funding through HUD FHIP enforcement grants, City of Spokane Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), private testing contracts, other local organization education contracts and private donations. Their mission is to provide education, outreach and enforcement for the people of Eastern Washington with respect to the Washington Law Against Discrimination, the federal fair housing laws, and the Washington State Landlord Tenant Law. The Fair Housing Center of South Puget Sound (Fair Housing Center) started during the spring of 1995 through Pierce County government, who had applied for and received a FHIP grant, and began its independent operations on October 1, 1995. The agency moved from its initial purpose of serving Pierce County residents to providing services to individuals and businesses in western and central Washington. Since then the agency has received ongoing funding through HUD FHIP Private Enforcement Initiative and Education and Outreach Initiative contracts other contract specific work. The mission of the agency is "to assure equal access to housing and other related services to the residents of Washington. The organization will achieve this purpose through education, investigation, and enforcement of applicable laws". How Nonprofit Fair Housing Agencies Differ The Fair Housing Center and NWFHA provide intake and investigation of fair housing complaints, information and referral to other service providers, assist with requests for reasonable accommodations or modifications, train housing providers and consumers through education and outreach initiatives, conduct fair housing testing and consult on fair housing planning. Working collaboratively to ensure services statewide, NWFHA serves eastern Washington, the Fair Housing Center serves western Washington and both agencies provide services to residents and housing providers in central Washington. The NWFHA and Fair Housing Center are advocacy agencies. They differ from HUD and the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) agencies in that they do preliminary investigation of cases and do not make determinations on the outcomes. Instead, these two agencies assist complainants in filing cases with HUD and the FHAP agencies while supporting them through the sometimes confusing process and the conciliation process. In addition, these organizations are the only entities that conduct fair housing testing in Washington. Northwest Fair Housing Alliance Highlights The activities of the staff have been focused on the provision of services consistent with the mission of the organization including, but not limited to, the following programs and accomplishments: Receipt and investigation of 1,384 fair housing complaints, 250 of which have formally been filed with the HUD and/or the Washington State Human Rights Commission (WSHRC); conducted over 1000 tests in response to HUD grants, partnerships with other federal and civil rights organizations (WSHRC) and the National Fair Housing Alliance. The testing program has also included self-testing contracts by private real-estate proprietors interested in eliminating housing discrimination. NWFHA has received over 1248 calls for assistance on the Landlord-Tenant Hotline, and disseminated over 1,912 pieces of printed information in response to requests received over the Hotline; designed and delivered 43 formal fair housing training presentations to both consumers and housing providers, with audiences ranging from 4 to over 150 people; designed and implemented over 12,000 fair housing brochures in English and Spanish; participated as a contractor in the conduct of a statewide "Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice" for the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED); developed and disseminated a fair housing flyer and poster specifically designed for Native Americans; and, designed and established a NWFHA web site on the Internet, providing information about fair housing and the services offered by NWFHA with links to services provided by local, statewide and federal organizations. Fair Housing Center of South Puget Sound Highlights Since 1995 the Fair Housing Center has filed 233 cases with HUD & the Washington State Human Rights Commission while advocating settlement amounts on behalf of complainants to the total of $75,506.70. In addition to cases filed, the agency was involved in several Columbia Legal Services cases of which one familial status case against South Prairie Creek R.V. Park settled for $68,000. The Fair Housing Center was recently involved in settlement negotiations for a lawsuit based on familial status violations by MacDonald Hoague and Bayless against Northgate Village Apartments in Lakewood where there was a final settlement of $925,000 plus money in monitoring funds to the agency. The Fair Housing Center is the only nonprofit entity conducting fair housing testing in western Washington having conducted 747 matched pair tests from August 1995 through February 2005. In addition, over 30 tests were conducted in Yakima. These tests have been utilized in reports for City and County officials and as evidence in fair housing complaints. The Fair Housing Center has enjoyed its role in assisting state and local governments with fair housing planning. Since 1996 the agency has assisted with or completed, or is in the process of completing, "Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice" for the State of Washington, King and Pierce counties, Auburn, Bellingham, Bremerton, Kent, Seattle and Tacoma. During the last two years the Fair Housing Center has received national awards from the Equal Rights Center in Washington, D.C. and an Innovation Award from HUD (one of 4 awards in the nation) for English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum Fair Housing: Understanding Your Rights©. This curriculum is used in ESL classrooms throughout the region in Washington, Oregon and Idaho and gives new immigrants an opportunity to learn about fair housing laws as they master English as their new language. Credit is Due These nonprofit agencies would not be here today without the generous support of the Washington fair housing agencies. Both agencies are grateful for the statewide and regional partnerships. Though primarily reliant on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for funding, the Washington State Human Rights Commission, Seattle Office for Civil Rights, King County Office of Civil Rights and Tacoma Human Rights and Human Services have generously supported the Fair Housing Center and NWFHA through ongoing contracts. Additional funds have come from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME through Pierce County and the City of Spokane, the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, Washington State Department of Community Trade and Economic Development, U.S. Department of Justice, National Fair Housing Alliance and private contracts and settlements. 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