Thanks in part to a generous donation from Adams Outdoor Advertising, the Fair Housing Center will be running a year-long ad campaign consisting of four billboards rotating through Washtenaw, Livingston, and Monroe counties.
Artwork by Ballistic Design.
We are pleased to announce that FHC Director Pamela Kisch will be honored at the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit‘s 15th annual Fair Housing Leadership Awards Reception. This event honors ”persons or firms in the housing industry who have taken significant actions in support of fair and equal housing opportunities.”
Pam will be presented with the Marvin Thomas Service Award. Marv was the Coordinator of Investigations and Testing for FHCMD for over two decades. From 1991-1994, Pam assisted Marv with the investigation of many cases. During this time, over 80 cases were referred to FHCMD Cooperating Attorneys for litigation.
The reception will be held on September 20th from 5-7 PM at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Belle Isle Park in Detroit.
Tickets are still available. For additional information about sponsorship or the Reception, please contact Bea Paige or Cliff Schrupp at the FHCMD office: 313-963-1274 or fhcdet2@yahoo.com.
The FHC is seeking qualified individuals to be trained to act as home seekers to help uncover illegal housing discrimination. This is a temporary position (8-10 weeks), to start in early October. This position will be based in Ann Arbor; travel will be required within our six-county service area (Ingham, Jackson, Lenawee, Livingston, Monroe, and Washtenaw Counties).
To read the full job description, visit our Employment page.
Highlights from the Fair Housing Center’s 2012 newsletter include:
If you’d like to receive the print version of this or future newsletters, please send your mailing information to info@fhcmichigan.org.
According to a July 27, 2012, press release from the the Department of Justice, a homeowners association in California and the local municipality of Santa Rosa claimed a property was “senior housing” when in fact, none of the official guidelines required to legally be considered “senior housing” were followed.
La Esplanada Unit 1 Owners’ Association will pay $44,000 in compensatory damages, and both La Esplanada and the City of Santa Rosa will pay $5,000 in civil fines and attend fair housing training.
The official guidelines for senior housing come from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Fair Housing Act. HUD guidelines that need to be followed in order to be an official age-restricted community for persons 55 years of age or older include affirmatively electing to become an age-restricted community. The Fair Housing Act’s requirements include ensuring that at least 80 percent of the occupied units are occupied by at least one person who is 55 years of age or older and ensuring there are proper age verification procedures in place.
For more information, read the entire Department of Justice’s press release “Justice Department Settles Housing Discrimination Lawsuit Related to Senior Housing in Santa Rosa, California“.
Centered around Civil and Human Rights related readings, fiction and non-fiction, FHC book groups aim to engage community members in meaningful discussion.
Our August reading is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. August 28 in Ann Arbor and August 29 in Lansing (see details regarding book group locations, and book discounts below).
“The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic. Continue reading
The University of Michigan will be hosting the “RACE: Are We So Different” traveling exhibit (a project of the American Anthropological Association) at the Museum of Natural History from 2/8/2013 – 5/27/2013.
In February of 2012, the Museum of Natural History began preparing for the exhibit’s arrival through a three pronged approach: education at the University level, K-12 public schools (and a train the trainer program), and monthly community dialogues.
You can read more about the Museum of Natural History’s Understanding Race project and how to get involved in the local events at: http://understandingraceproject.org/ or on their facebook group.
You can also get an overview of RACE: Are We So Different on the exhibit’s website. There you will find many pages of interactive material focused on looking at RACE through three lenses -history, human variation and lived experience. Race: Are we so different?
Jackson MI, May 21, 2012
“The Fair Housing Center of Southeastern Michigan has been enforcing the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act since 1992. We have aided in the successful litigation of 70 cases and helped to secure over 100 accommodations and modifications for people with disabilities. Our office serves 6 counties in southeastern Michigan; including Jackson and Ingham, which were recently added to our service area in 2008.
Centered around Civil and Human Rights related readings, fiction and non-fiction, FHC book groups aim to engage community members in meaningful discussion.
Our June reading is Them by Nathan McCall . June 26 in Ann Arbor and June 27 in Lansing (see details regarding book group locations, and book discounts below).
Them tells the story of Barlowe Reed, an African-American whose attempt to buy the rundown house he rents in an historic black neighborhood is confounded by the sudden appearance of whites abandoning the suburbs for the inner city. Over time, blacks and whites are drawn into wrenching neighborhood power struggles as they wrestle with alien world-views and the unsettling realities of gentrification. Them captures the dynamics of class and race in today’s urban integrated communities.
Reading is fun! Talking about what you’ve read with others face to face= even more fun. Here is what we’re reading:
1) The Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle April 24 (A2) & April 25 (Lansing)
2) Them by Nathan McCall June 26 (A2) & June 27 (Lansing)
3) To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee August 28 (A2) & August 29 (Lansing)
Details on meeting locations and book discounts/specials at: http://www.fhcmichigan.org/2012/03/16/fhc-book-group-readings-april-through-august-2012/.
