HUD Homes For Sale – $28 Million to Fight Housing Discrimination

At a time when most local and national housing markets are still declining for a variety of reasons but primarily due to a continued sluggish local and national economy that is not producing jobs as expected, the rental market has been very competitive. That’s not surprising, after all, people have to live somewhere and if owning a home is judged either too risky or not possible, you would expect a rental market with higher demand.  One aspect of the housing market that you would not expect, and has not had near the exposure, however, is housing discrimination.

Just like offering innovative housing programs,  new types of tracking tools, and endorsing new reporting formats, HUD is leading the way again by announcing $28 Million in grants to combat housing discrimination.

The $28 million will be assigned to 84 fair housing organizations and other non-profit agencies in 33 states and the District of Columbia to assist people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination This is in addition to the $10 million funding for high performing fair housing enforcement organizations awarded last month.

The grants announced are funded through HUD’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and will be used to investigate allegations of housing discrimination, and work to promote equal housing opportunities.

The categories of grants awarded today are:

Private Enforcement Initiative grants (PEI)– HUD awarded $17.5 million to help groups investigate alleged housing discrimination, and enforce the Fair Housing Act and state and local laws that are substantially equivalent to the Act.

Education and Outreach Initiative grants (EOI)– HUD awarded $4.6 million to groups that educate the public and housing providers about their rights and obligations under federal, state, and local fair housing laws.

Fair Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI) – HUD awarded $5.9 million to groups that serve rural and immigrant populations in areas where there currently is no existing fair housing organization, or are otherwise underserved.