How much money is the government willing to spend to fight housing discrimination?
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it would make $38 million available for different initiatives that fight housing discrimination.
“The grants offered through three FHIP funding notices will support a variety of critical fair housing activities, including fair housing testing in the rental and sales market, public education efforts, capacity building, and education and outreach activities,” said HUD in a statement.
3 categories, $38 million total
“Each year, HUD makes funding available to support organizations interested in enforcing fair housing laws and policies, as well as educating the public, housing providers, and local governments about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act,” the department wrote in a statement.
HUD has divided the grants into three categories — Education and Outreach Initiative (EOI) grants, Fair Housing Organization Initiative (FHOI) grants and Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI) grants.
The EOI funds include $7.45 million to organizations that aim to “educate the public and housing providers about their rights and responsibilities under federal law,” said HUD. “The grants can also support state and local organizations that enforce fair housing laws that are equivalent to the federal Fair Housing Act.”
FHOI grants will total $500,000 to “help build the capacity and effectiveness of non-profit fair housing organizations, particularly organizations that focus on the rights and needs of underserved groups, such as rural and immigrant populations.”
And PEI grants, for organizations “that conduct intake, testing, investigation and litigation of fair housing complaints under the Fair Housing Act,” is getting the biggest chunk of the money — $30.35 million. These organizations can investigate both rental and sales transactions.
Organizations need to submit their applications by September 18, 2017, to be considered for the grants.