Description
The goal of the Housing Center is to ensure that all community members have the ability to choose where they would like to live regardless of their race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, familial status, disability, or military status. By supporting housing choice, we hope to encourage the development of dynamic neighborhoods that offer rich cultural exchanges, exposure to different perspectives, and personal growth opportunities.
Core program activities include conducting research regarding fair housing and fair lending and mapping patterns of housing discrimination to illustrate fair housing impediments; educating constituents about fair housing and fair lending rights according to federal, state, and local law (i.e. hosting community workshops; providing staff support to answer individual questions regarding discrimination); advocating for policy change initiatives involving housing and diversity; and engaging in enforcement efforts to guard against discrimination (i.e. completing random and complaint-based testing of rental, sales, insurance and lending institutions; assisting victims of discrimination with the administrative complaint process). Each of these services plays an important role in assuring equal access to housing and to the life opportunities that are impacted by housing (i.e. access to quality schools, transportation, jobs, and a safe and healthy living environment).
