Greater Baltimore

Community Housing Resource Board, Inc. (GBCHRB) October-November, 2005 / Vol.11, No. 4

FAIR HOUSING NEWS

A newsletter about fair housing, community development, and neighborhood quality of life

GREETINGS!

Welcome to Fair Housing News!, a newsletter produced by the GBCHRB as a public service. Contact us for a free copy of any article or if you would like this e-mailed to you: 410-453-9500 / 800-895-6302 / mail@gbchrb.org. More info/resources: http://www.gbchrb.org.

IN THE NATIONAL NEWS

California Agency Wins $1 Million Settlement Regarding an Accessible Parking Space. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing won a $1 Million disability discrimination lawsuit against a San Francisco landlord who refused to provide an accessible parking space for a tenant with a disability (severe degenerative joint disease). The tenant was assisted by Project Sentinel, a San Francisco nonprofit advocacy organization. The jury found the landlord liable for disability harassment and denial of a reasonable accommodation. (HUD news release, November 14, 2005; http://www.dfeh.ca.gov)

2004 HMDA Data Released by the Federal Reserve. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) released the data per federal requirements. The data includes mortgage lending transactions at the 8,853 lenders covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). New for 2004 are info regarding loan pricing and whether a loan is secured by a first or subordinate lien, or is unsecured. Lenders are required to make copies of their data available to the public. If you are interested in obtaining data, check out the FFIEC's web site: http://www.ffiec.gov/hmda. (FFIEC press release, September 13, 2005)

Kim Kendrick Confirmed as Assistant Secretary of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity for HUD. Formerly the Senior Counselor to HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, Kendrick was confirmed on October 7th. Originally from Pittsburgh, Kendrick once was the General Counsel for Covenant House Washington, an international nonprofit that helps and safeguards homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth. (HUD press release, October, 2005)

DID YOU KNOW?

To commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the National Organization on Disability is re-releasing its 1998, 2000, and 2004 N.O.D./Harris Surveys of Americans with Disabilities. These measure the participation of Americans with disabilities, compared with other Americans, in ten key life areas, including access, technology, and attitudes towards disability nationwide. Individual copies of the N.O.D./Harris Surveys are available in electronic format, at $75.00, or $45.00 for students, disability organizations, and other non-profits. The three surveys are also available together in an electronic 'boxed set', at a full price of $150.00, or a reduced price of $100.00 for students, disability organizations, and other non-profits. Order: http://www.nod.org/.

Contact the GBCHRB for FREE Fair Housing Info, Brochures, & Posters in English, Spanish, Korean, and Russian: 410-453-9500 / 800- 895-6302 / mail@gbchrb.org.

The GBCHRB's Neighborhood Beat TV Show Is on Cable Stations Throughout Maryland! Hosted by Dr. Bill Kladky, the 30-minute interview show runs in Baltimore City, and the counties of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, Calvert, St. Mary's, Talbot, Prince George's, and Montgomery! Call us at 410-453-9500 for days and times!

INTERESTING BOOKS

The Geography of Opportunity: Race & Housing Choice in Metropolitan America. Xavier DeSouza Briggs, ed. Brookings Institution, 2005. 353pp. $29.95. pbk. According to David Rusk, this book is "an indispensable, comprehensive guide for changing the rules of the game in American housing.

The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class are Undermining the American Dream. Sheryll Cashin. Public Affairs, 2005. 391pp. pbk. $17.95. Cashin, a Georgetown Law professor, argues that racially and economically-integrated communities must be actively promoted by vouchers, incentives, and other incentives because Brown v. Board of Education only achieved part of the dream.

Housing Segregation in Suburban America Since 1960: Presidential and Judicial Politics. Charles M. Lamb. Cambridge University Press, 2005. 318pp. $24.99. pbk. An interesting examination of national Fair Housing policy from Kennedy's 1960 to 2000.

Beyond Segregation: Multiracial and Multiethnic Neighborhoods in the United States. Michael T. Maly. Temple University Press, 2005. 278pp. $22.95. pbk. Intriguing examination of some of the American multiethnic neighborhoods that are stable, including Chicago's Uptown, Jackson Heights in New York.

To be published

Developing Affordable Housing: A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations, 3rd Ed. Bennett L. Hecht, Wiley Nonprofit Law, Finance & Management Series. Wiley. April 26, 2006. 750pp. $120.00.

Making Housing Happen: Faith-Based Affordable Housing Models. Jill Suzanne Shook. Chalice Press. May 30, 2006. 320pp. $34.00. pbk.

REST IN PEACE

Rosa Parks, Bus Passenger & Advocate, 92. Parks was a Black seamstress whose simple refusal to give her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus helped start the Civil Rights Movement. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King put it in his Stride Toward Freedom, "Mrs. Parks' arrest was the precipitating factor rather than the cause of the protest. The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices." In a 1999 visit to St. Louis, Pope John Paul II met with Mrs. Parks and said in his sermon that the US faces a challenge "to put an end to every form of racism, a plague which your bishops have called one of the most persistent and destructive evils of the nation" (CNN.com). Rest in peace. (New York Times, October 26, 2005:C24)

Alan A. Reich, Disability Advocate, 75. Reich was the founder and president emeritus of the National Organization on Disability, which provides education and advocates for disability issues. Among his many achievements, Reich helped build a coalition of disability groups that succeeded in placing a statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair in the F. D. R. Memorial in Washington. On July 25, 2005, Reich received the George Bush Medal for his work on behalf of people with disabilities. (http://www.nod.org/) (New York Times, November 11, 2005:C16)

C. Delores Tucker, Civil Rights and Women's Advocate, 78. Tucker marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Selma and campaigned against profanity-based rap music lyrics. She began the first Commission on the Status of Women in Pennsylvania, and helped found the National Political Congress of Black Women. Tucker was the first African American Secretary of State for Pennsylvania, the highest ranking in the country. Julian Bond, NAACP Board Chairman, said: "C. Delores Tucker devoted her life to the cause of justice. She stood up to powerful interests who degraded black women and was a life-long champion of equity and fair play for her gender - and for everyone." (NAACP News Release, October 18, 2005) (New York Times, November 6, 2005:29).

Constance Baker Motley, Civil Rights Lawyer and Judge, 84. Motley was a member of the NAACP legal team that argued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that legally ended public school segregation. She was the first African American woman to be elected to the New York State Senate, and the first female president of the Borough of Manhattan in 1965. In 1966, Motley was nominated to the Southern District Court in New York in 1966, and became the first African American woman in the federal judiciary. In 2003, Motley was awarded the NAACP's Springarn Medal, and NAACP President/CEO Bruce S. Gordon said, "Judge Motley's legal prowess helped pave the way for expanded freedoms from which we all benefit today." (NAACP.com, September 28, 2005)