Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Al Green (TX-09) requested additional program funding for our nation’s fair housing programs. In a letter submitted to Chairman Olver and Ranking Member Knollenberg of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee Congressman Al Green and 48 colleagues requested $26 million for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and $25 million for HUD’s Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP). The Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) and the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) fund fair housing organizations and other non-profit groups to provide vital services to their communities.
"For many Americans the dream of owning a home is cut short by the more than 3.7 million fair housing violations that are committed solely against minority communities each year. Current funding for fair housing is not nearly enough for what is needed by fair housing groups to combat the level of discrimination that persists throughout the country today. With increased funding, fair housing organizations will be able to assist more individuals, the housing industry and communities in forming integrated neighborhoods, free from discrimination." said Green.
The text of the letter and a list of co-signers are attached.
###
March 16, 2007
The Honorable John W. Olver
Chairman
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development
2358 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Joe Knollenberg
Ranking Member
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development
1016 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Olver and Ranking Member Knollenberg:
As you prepare the FY2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill, we write to express our support for additional program funding for our nation’s fair housing programs. Specifically, we request you provide $26 million for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and $25 million for HUD’s Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP).
Without a significant increase in funding, our country will continue to struggle to make housing integration a reality. Despite passage of the federal Fair Housing Act almost 40 years ago, it is estimated that nearly 4 million fair housing violations still occur annually against African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Pacific Islanders alone. Millions more violations are committed against people in all of the seven protected classes, including family status, disability, religion, color, race, sex, and national origin. Recent investigations of real estate agents uncovered an 87 percent rate of racial steering and a 20 percent rate of denial for African-Americans and Latinos.
In part due to fair housing violations, the homeownership gap between Whites and African-Americans is worse today than it was in 1940 – 23% in 1940 versus 27% today. The gap between Whites and Latinos is also 27%. While the national homeownership rate is nearly 70%, homeownership rates for African-Americans and Latinos are less than 50%. The rates of homeownership among Koreans, Cambodians and Native Americans on reservations are all under 45 percent.
The Fair Housing Initiative Program and the Fair Housing Assistance Program play critical roles in fighting housing discrimination. FHIP funds fair housing organizations and other non-profit groups to provide vital services to their communities. Grants ranging from $75,000 to $250,000 are used for education and enforcement programs that educate consumers about how to recognize and report housing discrimination, and conduct investigations and testing of complaints of housing discrimination. FHAP funds fair housing grants annually on a non-competitive basis to substantially equivalent State and local fair housing enforcement agencies. The grants are used for complaint processing, administrative costs, special enforcement efforts, training and other projects designed to enhance the agency’s administration and enforcement of its fair housing law.
Unfortunately, current funding for fair housing falls far short of what is needed by fair housing groups to combat the level of discrimination that persists throughout the country today. Since the mid 1990s, fair housing organizations have not been able to receive both education and enforcement funds in the same grant cycle. As new groups have been created, grants for enforcement and education have been reduced by up to 10 and 15 percent. Inadequate funding has forced ten fair housing organizations to close their doors within the last five years.
The Administration has proposed $20 million for FHIP in its FY2008 budget proposal - well below its authorized level of $26. Even with full funding at $26 million, only about 60 percent of eligible organizations would receive enforcement funding and about 80 percent would receive education funding. Annually, these groups process at least two-thirds of nationwide complaints for housing discrimination. Our request of $25 million for FHAP is the same level of funding requested in the President’s FY2008 budget.
We urge you to provide $26 million for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and $25 million for HUD’s Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) in your FY 2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill.
We thank you for you consideration.
Sincerely,
AL GREEN
Member of Congress
CO-SIGNERS:
RAUL GRIJALVA
MAXINE WATERS
VERNON EHLERS
GEORGE MILLER
PETER HOEKSTRA
JOHN CONYERS
JOE BACA
LLOYD DOGGETT
CHARLES GONZALEZ
STEPHANIE HERSETH
CAROLYN McCARTHY
DAVID SCOTT
DIANE WATSON
ARTUR DAVIS
XAVIER BECERRA
MICHAEL CAPUANO
YVETTE CLARKE
EMANUEL CLEAVER
G.K. BUTTERFIELD
GWEN MOORE
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON
BRAD MILLER
GRACE NAPOLITANO
LORETTA SANCHEZ
HILDA SOLIS
GARY ACKERMAN
HOWARD BERMAN
CORRINE BROWN
JULIA CARSON
DANNY DAVIS
ENI FALEOMAVAEGA
CHAKA FATTAH
GENE GREEN
LUIS GUTIERREZ
RUBEN HINOJOSA
SHEILA JACKSON-LEE
CAROLYN MALONEY
JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
SOLOMON ORTIZ
KATHY CASTOR
CHARLES RANGEL
BOBBY RUSH
EDOLPHUS TOWNS
NYDIA VELAZQUEZ
HENRY WAXMAN
ROBERT WEXLER
WILLIAM LACY CLAY