Eliminating Barriers to Racial Equity

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ERASE Racism Releases a New Report on the Federal Government's Attempts to Rollback "Civil Rights" Protections in Housing

Civil rights in America are under attack from the federal government, under President Trump's administration, in a way that has not been seen since before the early 1960s. It's a startling reality that requires a new level of monitoring, vigilance, and activism on the part of all Americans who care about civil rights. ERASE Racism is responding to this urgent need by creating a new initiative for Civil Rights Monitoring. We are kicking off this work with a new report "Civil Rights Rollback: U.S. Government Actions to Reduce Civil Rights in Housing and Public Education" which provides an analysis of the federal government's latest efforts to chip away at civil rights in housing and education.

For those only interested in housing, we have created a shortened version of the report that only includes research on civil rights related to housing. We have also created a Civil Rights Tracker for housing, which is designed to help concerned citizens keep track of numerous government activities that deserve to be addressed with our own relentless activism. 

read the housing report and tracker

 

 

Please Add Your Voice to Oppose HUD's Latest Assault on Fair Housing

URGENT ACTION NEEDED

HUD has recently proposed a rule that would allow the federal and local governments to relinquish their responsibilities for addressing existing racial segregation in housing.

In a recent editorial "HUD has become an obstacle to fair housing," Elaine Gross and Thomas Silverstein explain:

"Congress's decision to enshrine the duty to affirmatively further fair housing in the Fair Housing Act makes clear that it is not enough for federal agencies and grantees to only respond to acts of housing discrimination. They must proactively further fair housing by stopping discrimination in all its forms and dismantling the racial segregation in housing that is the natural result of housing discrimination based on race."

Click here to read the full article.

This rule makes clear that HUD and Secretary Ben Carson believe that affirmatively furthering fair housing is not necessary. One need look no further than Newsday's recent "Long Island Divided" series, which documented real estate agents' disparate treatment of homebuyers of color, to see that it is.

You can help us take action against this proposed rule!

By law, this proposed change is open to public comment. Please, express your opposition on the Federal Register by the March 16 deadline.

Elaine Gross submitted a comment, which you can see here.

 Thank you for helping to oppose this major step backward.

Submit a Comment >

 

ERASE Racism Calls on Local, State, and Federal Governments and the Real Estate Industry to Address Widespread Housing Discrimination on Long Island

Newsday divided press releaseElaine Gross, President of ERASE Racism, called today on municipal, county, state, and federal governments as well as the real estate industry to address the widespread housing discrimination on Long Island. New evidence of that discrimination is documented on a massive scale in a three-year investigation by Newsday published on November 17 in a 36-page report: "Long Island Divided." The investigation conducted a region-wide paired-testing initiative, in consultation with the Fair Housing Justice Center, to measure how real estate agents treated minority clients compared to white ones. The report found "evidence of widespread separate and unequal treatment of minority potential homebuyers and minority communities on Long Island." Black testers experienced disparate treatment 49 percent of the time, compared with 39 percent for Hispanics and 19 percent for Asian testers.
 
 
 

ERASE Racism Opposes Proposed HUD Rule That Would Make It More Difficult to Fight Housing Discrimination in Court

Open HousingThe U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed on August 19th a rule that would undermine enforcement of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) of 1968, which seeks to combat segregation and discrimination – whether it's intentional or not—through Disparate Impact claims. HUD's new proposed rule, whose 60-day comment period runs until mid-October, would undermine Disparate Impact claims – for example, by allowing municipalities and businesses such as banks, realtors, and management companies, to claim that their policies, practices, and activities were not intended to discriminate, and that, therefore, a plaintiff's claim of discrimination is not valid. The fact that their policies are indeed discriminatory would not matter.

ERASE Racism President Elaine Gross describes the important implications of this ruling in this Newsday Op-Ed article. 

Take Action
HUD is currently accepting and considering comments from the public. Please let HUD know that you support fair housing and oppose to the Administration's proposed rule on disparate impact. Voicing our individual and collective opposition to this proposed rule by HUD can make a difference. In order to submit a comment, visit the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Comments are due on October 18, 2019. 

Click here to read Elaine Gross's submitted comment.

 

Governor Cuomo and Legislative Leaders Announce Measure Prohibiting Discrimination Against Tenants Based on Source of Income

soi370x259April 26, 2019: The Governor and legislative leaders have issued a press release to highlight the new ban against housing discrimination based on legal sources of income. Elaine Gross, president of ERASE Racism is quoted in the Press Release. ERASE Racism initiated the statewide campaign for the ban that was later co-led by ERASE Racism and three other organizations. Read the full annoucement here. 

 

 

Fair Housing Lawsuit in Commack Settles for $230,000

apartmentforrent

ERASE Racism and the Fair Housing Justice Center announce the successful settlement of their federal housing discrimination lawsuit, which they filed with seven individual plaintiffs against the owner and management company of a Commack apartment complex. The case stemmed from an investigation, jointly funded by ERASE Racism and the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC), of the rental procedures at the Mayfair Garden Apartments, a 107-unit apartment complex located in Commack in the Town of Smithtown, Suffolk County. Using testers, the investigation detected significant discrepancies between the welcoming responses received by white testers and the discriminatory actions endured by African American testers who were seeking to rent apartments.

To read more about the case click here.

A copy of the settlement can be found here. 

A copy of the original complaint can be found here.

 

ERASE Racism Leads Successful Effort to Strengthen Suffolk County Human Rights Bill

housing page icon suffolk incomeAfter leading the effort in achieving a strengthened fair housing law in Nassau County, which included source of income as a protected class, which took effect in 2007, ERASE Racism, as an organizer of the Housing for All Coalition, is celebrating yet another victory in the pursuit for racial equity and protection of human rights.

On Tuesday, September 10th, 2014, HR 1620 passed the Suffolk County Legislature by a unanimous vote. Advanced by County Executive Steve Bellone, the bill expands the County's Human Rights Law to provide residents meaningful protection from discrimination in areas including housing, employment, credit, and public accommodations. The changes passed in the bill are a step forward for human rights in Suffolk County, benefitting a myriad of residents, including veterans, immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, single mothers with children, and seniors.

Read the full press release here.

Read President Elaine Gross's Testimony here. 

 

ERASE Racism's Fair Housing Lawsuit Settles for $165,000

townhouse apartment

ERASE Racism, along with four other plaintiffs, successfully reached a settlement in a housing discrimination case filed against a Mineola landlord and property manager. The settlement to resolve the lawsuit ERASE Racism, et al. v. LLR Realty LLC, et al. provides $165,000 in damages, attorney's fees, and costs to plaintiffs regarding the rental of apartments at the 75-unit Town House Apartments. The settlement provides for substantial structural changes to the rental operations at the Mineola apartment building. Accordingly, Defendant LLR Realty LLC agreed to adopt and implement non-discrimination policies to prevent future fair housing law violations at the property.

Read the full press release here.

Background Information About the Case and Initial Press Coverage When It Became Public

On Wednesday, August 28, 2013, ERASE Racism, the Fair Housing Justice Center (“FHJC”) and three African American testers filed a lawsuit in federal district court alleging that the owners and managers of an apartment building in the Village of Mineola discriminates against African American renters.   This lawsuit came about after a 2012 investigation, jointly funded and sponsored by ERASE Racism and FHJC, which included sending several teams of comparably qualified African American and white testers posing as prospective renters to inquire about apartments at the 74-unit Town House Apartments located at 225 First Street in the Village of Mineola, a predominantly white community in Nassau County.  According to the lawsuit, an “Apartment for Rent” sign appeared at the entrance of one of the largest rental buildings in Mineola.  Despite the sign, the complaint alleges that the building superintendent discouraged African Americans from renting apartments by misrepresenting the availability of apartments, not showing available apartments, quoting higher rents, and/or suggesting there could be a wait because other people were ahead of them.

Please read the entire press release here.

A copy of the complaint can be found here . 

News Coverage:  Newsday   News12   CBS    Colorlines 

 

ERASE Racism Files Housing Discrimination Complaint Against Nassau County

ScreenHunter 11 Apr. 28 10.07On April 28, 2014, ERASE Racism submitted a civil rights complaint to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alleging that Nassau County (the County) discriminates against African-Americans and perpetuates racial segregation in the administration of its housing and community development programs.  The Complaint identifies violations committed by the County itself, as well as the County’s failure to enforce federal civil rights requirements on members of the Nassau Urban County Consortium.

Click here to read the press release

Click here to read the HUD Administrative Complaint and Supporting Materials

 

 

 

Feature Update to Civil Rights Tracker

HUD Affirms Segregation with September Fair Housing Rule

AFFHIn September 2020, the Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice rule went into effect. This new HUD rule destroys a crucial regulatory provision of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. That provision, called Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), was strengthened by the Obama Administration in 2015, ensuring that U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds would support only those local and state municipalities who could clearly demonstrate that they and their housing and other programs are furthering the non-discrimination goals of the Fair Housing Act.

The September HUD rule waters down the AFFH provision and gives a green light to continued segregation and status quo discrimination within America's cities, towns, and villages.

What is the Fair housing act

HOW DOES THE NEW HUD RULE WEAKEN THE FAIR HOUSING ACT

HOW DOES THE NEW RULE AFFECT LONG ISLAND

For more details on HUD's changes to the AFFH provision, click here to read comments submitted to HUD by V. Elaine Gross

Click here to read recent commentary on this issue by V. Elaine Gross published in The Hill.

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A summary of legal actions by the federal government to rollback civil rights in housing. The list indicates the status of each action and whether the rollback has been blocked, implemented or has just been proposed.
 
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  1. In 2019, HUD proposed a rule that would, over time, prohibit families that include both individuals who are citizens, or who have documented immigration status, and individuals who are undocumented from residing in many types of federally subsidized housing.
  2. In 2019, HUD announced its intention to propose the repeal of its Equal Access rule, which prohibits discrimination against transgender individuals in federally funded homeless shelters.
  3. In 2019, HUD proposed changes to its regulations governing Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, which promotes economic opportunity for low income residents in projects assisted with HUD funds. These changes would weaken enforcement of Section 3 by taking oversight responsibility away from HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
  4. In 2018, HUD issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking input on possible changes that would likely weaken the Department's 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which governs how state and local governments, as well as public housing authorities, comply with their civil rights obligations.
  5. In 2013, HUD issued a rule setting the standard for evaluating disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act. HUD issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 2019 that, if finalized, would establish a standard for Disparate Impact claims in HUD administrative proceedings that would be virtually impossible for civil rights advocates to satisfy.

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  1. In September of 2020, HUD implemented a rule that rolled back a key part of the Fair Housing Act by allowing federal and local governments to relinquish their responsibilities for addressing existing racial segregation in housing. Previously, the federal government and local governments that received funding from HUD were tasked with Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) by proactively working to dismantle the racial segregation in housing that is the result of decades of government-sanctioned housing discrimination based on race. This new rule eliminates this critical responsibility.
  2. In 2018, HUD withdrew a proposed rule dating from the Obama administration that would have streamlined the process of creating consortia of public housing authorities, thereby making it easier for Housing Choice Voucher holders to move to areas of opportunity.
  3. In 2017, HUD withdrew a proposed rule dating from the Obama administration that would have modernized regulations applicable to the demolition and disposition of public housing. The abandoned proposed rule would have promoted civil rights in that process.
  4. In 2015, jurisdictions receiving HUD funds were asked to submit Assessments of Fair Housing in order to continue receiving funds. In 2018, this rule was suspended, and the assessment tool used to standardize these reports was withdrawn, preventing jurisdictions from using it to submit AFHs. A lawsuit was brought forward to reinstate this tool, and its decision is pending.

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  1. HUD attempted to delay the Small Area Fair Market Rent (SAFMR) program, originally set to begin on January 1, 2018, by two years. A lawsuit was successfully brought forward to require HUD to adhere to the original deadline.
  2. In 2018, HUD proposed increasing tenant rent obligations for households living in public housing or utilizing Housing Choice Vouchers. For now, HUD has abandoned this plan in light of a public backlash that highlighted the Department's lack of statutory authority for the change.
 
 

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