Bush highlights HUD's 2 year accomplishments

Union confident officers didn't urinate on Indian 
     (Minneapolis, Jan. 31, 2003) -- Two police officers accused by community activists of urinating on an American Indian man came forward on Thursday, as the head of the police union expressed confidence that they will be exonerated.
     The incident has outraged many American Indians in Minneapolis. Police Chief Robert Olson pledged a thorough investigation.
     Olson added, "If any if these allegations are true, they are very, very serious and would result in serious disciplinary action, there's no question about that."  FULL STORY by The Associated Press

Integration in housing still a dream deferred
     (Chicago, Jan. 30, 2003) -- Public housing is supposed to be changing. Chicago's infamous projects, where many of the city's poor and black citizens have been warehoused since the 1960s, are being erased from both the skyline and memory. The new gospel in public housing is what used to be called Section 8 and now goes by the name Housing Choice Vouchers. Funded by the federal government but administered locally, these vouchers are meant to allow low-income residents to spread out into neighborhoods, integrated both racially and economically.
     But so far, in both Chicago and Evan-ston, this is just another dream deferred.
     That's why several public interest legal groups filed a class-action lawsuit against the Chicago Housing Authority last week, alleging the agency is perpetuating segregation by moving its tenants out of the Projects and into the old ghettos. The CHA evicted them, gave them vouchers and sent them off to the slums on the South and West sides.  FULL STORY in The Daily Northwestern

Buffalo-Niagara has mixed equity results
     (BUFFALO, N.Y., Jan. 30, 2003) -- With questions of fairness regularly dominating the local news, it's difficult to deny equity issues are among the most pressing and controversial facing the Buffalo-Niagara region today. This inevitably raises the provocative question: "How fair and equitable is our region?"
     The Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth, a major public service program of UB, investigates this challenging question in its new report, "State of the Region Progress Report 2002: Equity in Buffalo-Niagara," the third in a series of State of the Region reports.
     Despite a more than century-long trend of equity reform and ongoing collaborative efforts in the region to sustain this progress, the report reveals mixed results for Buffalo-Niagara.  FULL STORY in The UB Reporter

Metro lawyer says law meets constitutional test 
     (NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 31, 2003) -- A proposed law to ban job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not unconstitutional, Metro Law Director Karl Dean says.
     He issued an opinion yesterday in response to a request from two councilwomen.
     As it is, the bill could not be enforced against churches or religiously affiliated groups when it comes to a position ''important to its spiritual and pastoral mission,'' the opinion states.  FULL STORY in The Tennessean

'Sun' shines light on Chicago
     (CHICAGO, 30, 2003) -- 'A Raisin in the Sun," a native Chicagoan's play about a black family's internal struggle about making the move to an all-white neighborhood during the 1950s, will be the featured book in Round Four of "One Book, One Chicago."
     Lorraine Hansberry's award-winning work is the first play to be the centerpiece of Mayor Daley's citywide celebration of reading. More important, Hansberry is the first Chicago author to receive the honor.
     "This is a story about racial discrimination--about the African-American experience in Chicago, which makes it particularly appropriate as we enter Black History Month," the mayor said.  FULL STORY in The Chicago Sun Times

MidAmerica overcomes adversity
     (CHICAGO, Jan, 29, 2003) -- Sometimes the best way to deal with adversity is to meet it head on. 
     That is what Clarendon Hills-based MidAmerica Bank did when faced with the possibility of prolonged litigation concerning alleged fair lending violations brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.
     By maintaining a positive attitude, stating the facts, and keeping its employees well informed, the bank, whose parent company is MAF Bancorp Inc., reached an agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ), and is moving ahead.  FULL STORY in The Business Ledge

Fair housing office to open in Battle Creek
     (BATTLE CREEK, Jan. 29, 2003) -- A satellite office of The Partnership for Fair Housing Center of Southwest Michigan will open in Battle Creek in April, the nonprofit agency's officials announced Tuesday.
     The organization, which was started in Kalamazoo in 1998, provides education services, enforcement and "testing" of state and federal fair housing laws, which prohibit discrimination. The satellite office will be housed in the Neighborhoods Inc. building on Washington Avenue.
     "We cannot do the work that we need to do without the help of the community," said Pat Winston, executive director of the organization's alliance with Neighborhoods Inc. "Their goal and our goal is to break down the barriers for fair housing in the area."  FULL STORY in The Enquirer

Study inspects discrimination in names
      (CHICAGO, Jan. 27, 2003) -- It's a game we've all played. When there's a name without a face, we try to fill in the blank. And in a society burdened by racial assumptions, we stereotype. Suzy? White. Clarence? Black.
     The exercise seems harmless. But the results of a study released last week signified more than a parlor game. Professors at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent out about 5,000 resumes in response to want ads.
     They found that resumes with "white-sounding" names elicited about 50 percent more callbacks than those with "black-sounding" names. And the quality of the credentials made no difference.  FULL STORY in The Ventura County Star

New Ga. predatory lending law proposed
     ( ATLANTA, Jan. 27, 2003) -- Republican senators introduced a new predatory lending bill Monday they said would keep lenders from fleeing the state's mortgage industry.
     But critics said the Republican proposal guts the nation's toughest predatory lending law.
     The proposal would prevent borrowers from suing those who bought investments that included a loan that violated the law, so only the original lender would be liable. Loans obtained through the Federal Housing Administration or the Veterans Administration would also be exempt from the law.  FULL STORY by The Associated Press

HUD releases 2002 homeownership rates statement
     (WASHINGTON, Jan, 27, 2003) -- Census Bureau data released on January 27, 2003 show that there are more homeowners in America than at any time in history. The 2002 annual homeownership rate was 67.9 percent, up 0.1 percent from the previous record posted in 2001. And, in the fourth quarter of 2002, a new all-time national homeownership record was set at 68.3 percent, up 0.3 percent from both the third quarter of 2002 and the fourth quarter of 2001.
     "Increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities, is a priority for the Bush Administration," said HUD Secretary Mel Martinez. "The increase in new homeowners, announced today, demonstrates that we are moving in the right direction towards reaching our goal of adding 5.5 million new homeowners by the end of the decade."
     Homeownership also increased for minorities to a record high of 49.9 percent in 2002, an increase of 0.8 percent. Last year President Bush announced "America's Homeownership Challenge," calling on the housing industry to help increase minority homeownership. The result was the Blueprint for the American Dream Partnership, an unprecedented public-private partnership to increase minority homeownership by helping to educate homebuyers, increase the supply of affordable housing, offer down-payment assistance and provide flexible financing options that help people realize the American Dream.  PRESS RELEASE by HUD

Jury awards $3.8M in pay discrimination suit
     (ANNISTON, Ala., Jan, 27, 2003) -- A jury in federal court awarded $3.8 million to an Alabama woman who alleged that Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. paid her less than it paid her male counterparts, the Associated Press reports.
     Lilly Ledbetter, 64, filed the lawsuit in 1999, contending that the company paid her less over a number of years than men working in the same position, according to her attorney. Ledbetter was an area supervisor and worked for the firm for nearly 20 years, according to the AP. She left the company in 1998.
     “As late as 1993, she was being paid below the minimum (wage) for the job while the men were being paid medium to maximum,” her attorney tells the AP.  FULL STORY in The HR Daily News

Bill to give commission more housing-related power
     (ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 27, 2003) -- For more than 20 years, the Annapolis Human Relations Commission has acted as a referee, mediating skirmishes in the struggle for equality in the city.
     The volunteer panel has long sought to also investigate alleged acts of discrimination beyond the area of housing. Now, a bill before the City Council would give the commission that authority.
     Michael J. Keller, chairman of the 13-member body, said the legislation would bring consistency to a convoluted set of rules. Currently, the commission only has the power to investigate specific complaints of discrimination related to housing.  FULL STORY in The Capital

On race issues, justices looking the other way
     (WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2003) -- I dropped in on the U.S. Supreme Court last week as oral arguments got underway in a case about race in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The issue was whether racism had been a factor in a decision by city officials to deny building permits for a low-income housing complex.
     Sounded like a warm-up act for the court's big show in April: the University of Michigan's use of race in admissions. To get a seat for that one, however, you'll probably have to stand in a line that begins forming before the break of dawn.
     There was room to spare for the Cuyahoga Falls proceedings, and from my perch in the press gallery I got a fairly close-up look at the nine justices seated behind their huge, wing-shaped mahogany bench. With their black robes blending in with their black, high-back swivel chairs, they occasionally appeared to be a row of detached heads, like futuristic brains so powerful that bodies were no longer required.  FULL STORY in The Washington Post

Richmond woman wins housing disability suit
     (RICHMOND, Calif., Jan. 25, 2003) -- The Richmond Housing Authority lost a legal battle with a disabled woman who says she was turned down for public housing despite the authority's mission to place both seniors and people with disabilities in three apartment buildings.
     According to the terms of a settlement approved by U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton, the agency will open up the list to disabled people for six weeks.
     Lifelong Richmond resident Frances Foster said she was told since 1999 that she could not apply for a slot on the waiting list for public housing. The agency was refusing to accept the disabled, and at 60, Foster did not meet the required minimum age of 62 for the senior housing list.  FULL STORY in The Costa Contra Times

Martinez: A Bush favorite goes with the flow
     (Jan. 24, 2003) -- As a former chairman of both the Orlando Housing Authority and Orange County in Florida, Mel R. Martinez dug into housing and urban development issues well before moving into the secretary's office at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. But it was his earlier life story that made him a good political fit with the Bush administration: At 15, Martinez fled Cuba under a Catholic Charities program called Operation Peter Pan, which placed him with foster families in Florida. His parents joined him four years later.
     Martinez became close friends with Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and co-chaired George W. Bush's presidential campaign in the state. At the end of the recount turmoil, he was plucked from relative obscurity to become the administration's highest-ranking Hispanic. Both Martinez's supporters and his critics invariably preface comments about him with a compliment not often heard in Washington: He is a genuinely nice guy.
     As Martinez, 51, eyes an eventual run for statewide office in Florida, he remains staunchly loyal to the Bush team. But that loyalty hasn't prevented him from tackling some tough housing issues. He fights cautiously and, unlike his higher-profile predecessors, is more likely to get involved in policy technicalities than in public political battles. He voluntarily waded into a complex overhaul of housing-finance regulations, a snake pit of vested interests that scared off previous secretaries, and he assigned his deputy, Alphonso Jackson, the job of fixing the legendarily dysfunctional HUD bureaucracy.
     But Martinez has shied away from some battles: He has focused on homeownership while ignoring the thornier issues of public and rental housing. Industry groups and members of Congress who care about the issues he champions are either impressed or nonchalant about him. Those who have experienced the department's poor communications about mistakes, particularly in its agency for public and Indian housing, are furious.
     Bruce Katz, director of metropolitan policy at the Brookings Institution, said of Martinez's divided attention, "You can succeed at one part of your job and fail miserably at another."  FULL STORY in The National Journal

Possible redefinition of family to affect Provo housing
     (PROVO CITY, Utah, Jan. 22, 2003) -- On January 8th, 2003, city council members discussed the possibility of redefining the Provo city zoning code. Under the new changes, homeowners who do not live in his/her own homes will be restricted to renting to two unrelated persons instead of three.
     City Councilman Dave Knecht says this measure is needed to keep college students and single people from displacing families in the community. However, despite good intentions, the consequences will discriminate against Provo's single, minority, elderly, and lower-income population. Many concerned citizens feel that the city council isn't thinking things through (relating to how the changes will affect property values).
     Not all local citizens share this opinion. Those that are pro-change feel that with all the family neighborhoods that have transformed into student neighborhoods in the past ten years, the time is long over-due; and that in reference to their neighbor (Orem) "the family city", Provo will soon be known as "the student city".  FULL STORY by NetXNews

Poll suggests race relations improving
     (WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2003) -- Attitudes about race continue to improve, says a new poll that also shows blacks and whites still have dramatically different views of how far the United States has come in improving race relations.
     While most whites think blacks have an equal chance to get good jobs, affordable housing and fair treatment from merchants, fewer than half of blacks think they get an equal shot at these things, according to the ABC News-Washington Post poll.
     Pollster Gary Langer of ABC said the survey suggests social contacts between blacks and whites continue to rise, but perceptions of race relations remain dramatically different.  FULL STORY in The New York News Day

Supreme Court limits housing discrimination lawsuits
     (WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2003) -- The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a fair housing law cannot be used to sue real estate company owners when their employees discriminate, a defeat for a mixed-race couple who had trouble buying a house in California.
     The justices ruled 9-0 that the law outlawing racial discrimination in housing can be used to collect damages from those who discriminate and their companies. Company officers and owners cannot be sued separately, the court said.
     Justice Stephen Breyer said that Congress, in passing the law in 1968 to help minorities rent and buy homes, did not say anything about individual liability for company owners.  FULL STORY by The Associated Press

Court hears housing discrimination case
     (WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2003) -- A Supreme Court debate about racial discrimination in a predominantly white Ohio town turned into a broader discussion about another subject Tuesday: referendums and whether cities and states can be sued for putting all kinds of matters to a public vote.
     Cuyahoga Falls, a suburb of Akron, is fighting a $3 million lawsuit that accuses it of holding a racially motivated referendum in 1996 to keep the town from integrating.
     Plans for a low-income housing project known as Pleasant Meadows to be built by the nonprofit Buckeye Community Hope Foundation were put on the ballot after residents submitted petitions demanding a referendum. The town's mayor was among opponents to the complex.  FULL STORY by ABCNEWS.com

D.C. lawyer arguing Falls housing bias case
     (CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio, Jan. 21, 2003) -- Cuyahoga Falls doesn't plan to leave anything to chance when it argues its housing discrimination case today before the U.S. Supreme Court.
     The city has hired a Washington-based attorney who once worked as a clerk in the Supreme Court to handle oral arguments this morning. The city is trying to convince the justices that the Falls cannot be held financially liable for the actions and words of some of its residents who sought to block the 1996 construction of low-income apartments.
     Attorney Glen D. Nager, who once served as a law clerk for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and now works for the law firm of Jones Day, will argue the case on behalf of the city. 

• FULL STORY in The Beacon Journal
• RELATED STORY in The St. Petersburg Times
• RELATED STORY in The Beacon Journal

Housing advocates recall King's support in 1965
     Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered most widely for civil rights struggles in the Deep South, but discrimination was not only a southern issue.
     North Shore residents recall King’s July 1965 visit to the Village Green in Winnekta, a visit he made to support ongoing efforts by local residents to overturn housing discrimination practices.
     King and his retinue from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had come to Chicago for a three-day visit. Following talks in Chicago, he headed north to meet with supporters of the North Shore Summer Project.  FULL STORY in The Evanston Review

Expansion of group home may mean political hurdles
     (PETERSBURG, Va., Jan. 20, 2003) -- For 12 years the Hamilton-West assisted living adult home has sat at 309 West Washington Street. A facility that offers home to about 20 people who range from people with mental and physical handicaps to the elderly, Hamilton-West has received stellar ratings by the state. Those living at the center are most often placed through the state Department of Social Services, District 19 or other local and state agencies.
     So when co-owner Ray Dillard decided applied for a special exception permit to expand the business and turn his own home located at 303 West Washington Street, which sits in the center of the historic Folly Castle District on West Washington Street.into another Hamilton-West to house as many as 20 more people, he didn't anticipate any problems.
     That's when life at the Hamilton-West took a strange turn as several neighbors voiced concern over property values in the neighborhood and safety and said that having another assisted living facility would be an unfair burden on the historic neighborhood.  FULL STORY in The Progress Index

Help the city of Salem eradicate discrimination
     (SALEM, Ore., Jan. 20, 2003) -- Back in the 1950s, the black residents of Montgomery, Ala., chafed at the injustice of giving up seats to white people on the bus.
     A young preacher named Martin Luther King Jr. got involved. So did many others. Today, African-Americans ride Montgomery’s transit system as equals.
     In our own time and place, the patterns of discrimination may not be as blatant. But it’s still important to identify them and to work together for solutions.
     Salem’s Human Rights & Relations Advisory Commission is trying to help this process along. The group is surveying residents on whether they’ve personally experienced discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations such as restaurants and transportation.  FULL STORY in The Statesman Journal

Bush says racial prejudice still afflicts America
     (LANDOVER, Md., Jan. 20, 2003) -- President Bush said on Monday that America has made progress on civil rights but "there's still prejudice holding people back" as he marked the holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
     Bush and his wife Laura attended a rousing service at the First Baptist Church of the Glenarden community in suburban Washington, replete with gospel hymns and organ music.
     Bush, who just days ago angered many black community leaders by challenging the use of race in a university admissions program, got a standing ovation when introduced, as did his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.  PRESS RELEASE by Reuter

$45M for housing counseling to help homeowners
     (WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2003) -- Making good on the Bush Administration's plans to increase minority homeownership, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez today announced a proposal to increase funding for the department's Housing Counseling Grant Program to $45 million. Today's announcement is part of President Bush's fiscal year 2004 budget request of Congress and represents a $10 million increase over what was requested for fiscal year 2003.
     Last year, President Bush proposed $35 million for HUD's Housing Counseling Grant Program to help an estimated 700,000 persons and families to either find housing or keep the homes they have. Today's additional $10 million request would assist 250,000 more lower-income individuals and families to find and maintain homes. Since taking office, the Bush Administration proposed to more than double funding to this counseling program - from $20 million to $45 million.
     "It's not enough that we help families get housing, we must help them keep housing," said Martinez. "Housing counseling is an important part of this Administration's goal to expand homeownership opportunities, particularly for minority families who want to make their American Dream come true."  PRESS RELEASE by HUD

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