Washington, DC – Congressman Al Green (TX-09), last week, was joined by 28 colleagues from both parties to introduce H.R. 2926, the Housing Fairness Act of 2007.  Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act almost 40 years ago, more than 4 million fair housing violations still occur each year.  According to a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report released this April, a record number of Americans are reporting incidents of housing discrimination, with disability and race as the leading reasons for filing a complaint.  Recent investigations of real estate companies designated by HUD for testing have also uncovered an 87 percent rate of racial steering and a 20 percent denial rate for African Americans and Latinos.  Another HUD study found that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders face significant levels of discrimination when they search for housing in large metropolitan areas nationwide.

The Housing Fairness Act of 2007 would authorize HUD to administer a nationwide testing program to measure patterns of adverse treatment based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, disability or national origin in rentals, real estate sales, and lending practices.  HUD would be required to report to Congress the results of the testing program every two years.  The bill would also increase annual funding for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program from the $26 million level authorized in 1994 to $52 million through FY 2012 which would go towards private enforcement, education and outreach, and require HUD to administer a competitive matching grant program for private non-profit organizations to examine the causes of housing discrimination and segregation, as well as their effects on education, poverty and economic development. 

"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.   Fair housing education and enforcement play a pivotal role in fighting this housing discrimination and increasing homeownership for people of color,” stated Congressman Green.  “The Federal Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) provides grants to nonprofits to provide education and outreach to real estate companies, agents and landlords about fair housing compliance and well as to consumers about their rights under the law.  FHIP also funds enforcement efforts so that fair housing agencies can conduct investigations and test complaints of housing discrimination.  Increasing this effort will allow fair housing organizations to better assist more individuals, the housing industry and communities in forming integrated neighborhoods, free from discrimination."