Fair Housing for People with Disabilities
HUD KICKS OFF FAIR HOUSING MONTH 2015 WITH LAUNCH OF NEW NATIONAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
by Elena Gaona, Commentary by Kelley Swanson
Commentary-The topic of fair housing for people with disabilities touches upon two areas of law that concern Puccio Law: disability discrimination and real estate law. HUD is launching a new campaign to help combat discrimination for people who are disabled. We have heard of situations of when people are asked to get rid of their service animals in rental properties.
Other people struggle with their property managers to get the appropriate accommodations. If you have a disability and are being discriminated against, please feel free to contact Puccio Law at 239-995-0000. Remember that hiring an attorney is an important decision and should not be based soley upon advertising.
Below is an article regarding The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fight for fair housing. You can also find information regarding fair housing for people with disabilities at www.disability.gov/resource/disability-govs-guide-housing/.
Source HUD
WASHINGTON– The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today kicked off Fair Housing Month 2015 with the launch of a new national media campaign that will help the public recognize various forms of housing discrimination and what they should do if they believe their housing rights have been violated.
“Every American deserves a fair chance to secure safe and stable housing,” said HUD Secretary Julián Castro. “At the core of everything we do to improve housing opportunities is a firm belief that no family should ever be denied the opportunity to own or rent a home because of what they look like, where they come from, how they get around, how they speak, who they love and other circumstances of life. HUD’s fair housing efforts level the playing field so that folks have a solid foundation upon which they can achieve their dreams and build for the future.”
The new campaign, which consists of print and digital Public Service Announcements, is being launched as the nation celebrates the 47th anniversary of the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act,thelandmark law that was passed one week after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Each April, HUD, local communities, fair housing advocates, and fair housing organizations across the country commemorate Fair Housing Month by hosting an array of activities that enhance Americans’ awareness of their fair housing rights, highlight HUD’s fair housing enforcement efforts, and emphasize the importance of ending housing discrimination.
Secretary Castro launched the month-long commemoration with an event at HUD Headquarters that featured Vanita Gupta, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and a national leader in the civil rights community.
Through an array of enforcement activities, fair housing policy initiatives, and education and outreach efforts, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is taking action against individuals and housing providers that discriminate.
Last year, HUD and its Fair Housing Assistance Program partner agencies received 8,468 complaints alleging discrimination based on one or more of the Act’s seven protected classes: race, color, national origin, religion, gender, family status, and disability. During that period, the categories with the highest number of complaints were disability and race, respectively. In particular, HUD has had success in combatting lending discrimination as well as various forms of discrimination faced by women and persons with disabilities.
“Forty-seven years after the Fair Housing Act became law, the work we are doing to address housing discrimination is just as important, just as relevant,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “Every day, we have the law on our side to create better and stronger communities where everyone has an equal chance to obtain the home of their choosing.”
Her and stronger communities where everyone has an equal chance to obtain the home of their choosing."
