Greater Baltimore Community Housing Resource Board, Inc. (GBCHRB) July-August, 2021 FFAAIIRR HHOOUUSSIINNGG NNEEWWSS A newsletter about fair housing, community development, & neighborhood quality of life SUMMER GREETINGS! IN THIS ISSUE... Welcome to this Expanded Edition of Maryland Area News 1 Fair Housing News Produced by the National News 2 GBCHRB as a Public Service! To join the ADA 31st Anniversary 4 mailing list: mailto:[email protected]. Mortgage Lending News 5 Check our website http://www.gbchrb.org HUD and DOJ for laws, links, etc. or call 410.357.1219. Watch our TV show Enforcement 6 YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/wkladky1! Or go to Calendar 8 http://www.gbchrb.org/2rad9899.htm for radio shows on topics Fair Housing Resources 9 about Fair Housing! Interesting Books 9 Rest in Peace 10 MARYLAND AREA NEWS Police are Investigating a Break-In and Racially-Motivated Vandalism at the Harriet Tubman School in Howard County. The hate crime was condemned by Howard County, CAIR, and others. Bessie Bordenave, the president of the Harriet Tubman Foundation, said "Based on the things that I have seen here, I would say yes, this is a hate crime. Because it appears that nothing else was disturbed but things that related to our Black history and to our Black school." The old Harriet Tubman School was Howard County's only high school for African American students during segregation. Parts of the classrooms are damaged, all of the windows and a part of the building have been broken. The damage pushes back the county's plan to renovate the building. "And for someone to come in and really try to slow us down, really has been disastrous for us. However, we will continue because we have that fight still left in us and we will be moving forward," Bordenave said. Read the July 29, 2021 WBALTV article. Read the July 29, 2021 CAIR article. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Condemns Graffiti Depicting the Symbol of the Nazi SS on a Route 1 Bridge in Bear, Delaware, Just South of State Route 273. The graffiti included the phrase ‘Crackers Matter’ and the double lightning bolt insignia of Nazi Germany’s SS was removed upon discovery later that afternoon. Delaware State Police are investigating the incident, but do not currently have any suspects or leads. The SS was a branch of the Nazi government that was responsible for state security and implementing the Holocaust. CAIR, , the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said that "the American Muslim community and CAIR stand in solidarity with all those challenging anti-Black racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and all other forms of bigotry. " Basha Silverman, CEO of Jewish Family Services of Delaware, called the graffiti "hateful and divisive." Read the July 29, 2021 CAIR article. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/nazi-ss-graffiti-found-on-route-1-bridge-is-being-removed- by-workers/ar-AAMFb5b?ocid=BingNewsSearch. Read the July 28, 2021 Delaware Online article. Maryland has a Shortage of 131,793 Affordable Rental Homes for Extremely Low Income (ELI) Renters. According to the latest data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) in their just- released "Out of Reach 2021: Maryland," an annual income of $59,480 is needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home at HUD's Fair Market Rent. There are some 193,819 or 26.5% of all Maryland renter households (730,055) that are extremely low income (below $31,640 for a four-person household), and 74% of them have a severe cost burden. The situation is not improving as the housing market is skewed toward high-end renters. While and affordable homes are only available for 32% of ELI households and 59% for those with 50% of the average median income (AMI), those with 100% of the AMI have a 6% over-supply. See the NLIHC's data about Maryland's housing. NATIONAL NEWS Annual Fair Housing Report Shows Increase in Housing Harassment Claims Against Marginalized Groups, with a Significant Upsurge Against AAPI Communities. The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA)'s annual trends report documenting complaints of housing discrimination filed in 2020 at the local, state, and national levels found that, while the overall number of housing discrimination claims remained consistent, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities reported a rise in harassment. Claims of sexual harassment also increased among tenants who could not pay their rent because of job loss or unemployment. The report also found: (1) There has been a decline in referrals of potential fair lending pattern and practice violations by federal banking regulators to the Department of Justice, dropping from 47 in 2010 to just 12 in 2020. (2) The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at HUD had three Secretary- initiated complaints opened or completed in FY20, down from five in 2019 and 33 in 2015, reflecting a significant reduction in Secretary-initiated complaints during the Trump administration. (3) In 2020, 1,071 complaints of harassment were reported, a significant increase from the 761 complaints reported in 2019 and the highest number of harassment complaints reported since NFHA began collecting detailed harassment data in 2012. (4) Private fair housing organizations continue to process almost three times the number of complaints (73.5%) processed by state, local, and federal government agencies combined. (5) Complaints alleging discrimination because of disability continue to account for the largest number of complaints, at 54.6%. Discrimination based on disability is usually obvious, making it easier to detect and more practical to file a complaint. (6) Race-based complaints constituted 16.8% percent of complaints, and familial status discrimination accounted for 7.9%. The report noted that there were important legal victories in many housing discrimination cases in 2020, such as racial steering between apartment complexes, source of income discrimination, disability discrimination in mortgage lending, challenges to municipal nuisance ordinances that were used to discriminate against people of color, a challenge to residency preferences, discrimination in residential appraisals, and discrimination against a same-sex couple. Read the July 29, 2021 NFHA article. Advocates Praise HUD's Restoration of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule Which is Essential to Providing Inclusive Housing in Communities. Published by HUD on June 10, 2021, the proposed federal rule restores the portion of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. Advocates include the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Responsible Lending, and other housing organizations. HUD’s 2021 Interim Final Rule (IFR), “Restoring Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Definitions and Certifications,” requires program participants to submit certifications that they will affirmatively further fair housing with their consolidated plans, annual action plans, and PHA plans. The original 2015 AFFH rule was suspended and later repealed in 2018 and 2020, respectively. “Where we live shapes almost every aspect of our lives,” said Thomas Silverstein, associate director with the Fair Housing and Community Development Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “The AFFH mandate is critical to our efforts to create an equitable society where all people are able to choose where to live free from discrimination and where communities are empowered to provide their residents with access to the resources and opportunities needed to thrive.” Read the July 14, 2021 Center for Responsible Lending article. The New York State Legislature has Announced the Passage of Eight New Bills to Combat Housing Discrimination and Advance Fair Housing Goals. The bills were part of a legislative package passed by the State Senate after the Newsday story "Long Island Divided,” involving the New York-based Fair Housing Justice Center. The bills in the package include: (1) Bill S0945B/A6866 would increase fines on real estate brokers and salespeople who violate the law, and direct half of all fines to a new Anti-Discrimination in Housing Fund to be used for fair housing testing and other grants to local agencies and non-profits to fight housing discrimination. (2) Bill S2133A/A5363 adds a surcharge to the renewal licensing fee paid by real estate brokers and salespeople and directs the NY Attorney General to use it for annual fair housing testing. (3) Bill S1353A/A5428A establishes that all State and local agencies that administer housing and community development programs, and all that receive State housing funds, have an obligation to “Affirmatively Further Fair Housing.” (4) Bill S2132B/A5359 requires additional training for licensing of brokers and salespeople, including curriculum on fair housing laws, segregation's legacy, and anti-discrimination training. (5) Bill S538B/A4638A adds implicit bias training to the license renewal curriculum for real estate brokers and salespeople. (6) Bill S2131/A6186 requires standardized client intake procedures for real estate brokers, so that prospective homebuyers are not treated differently based on their race or other protected characteristics. Read the June 24, 2021 Fair Housing Justice Center article. The National Urban League's Just-Released 2021 State Of Black America, “The New Normal; Diverse, Equitable & Inclusive” Highlights the Urgency of Ending the “Three Pandemics” of Racial Inequity in Health Care, Economics, and Public Safety.