Chicago Landlord Violates Fair Housing Act

According to HUD, a Chicago landlord has been charged with violating the fair housing act by discriminating against families with children and men. The fair housing act mandates that housing providers may not create on-line or print any statements or advertisements that express preferences of race, color, background, religion, gender, familial status, or disability. However, the landlord, Cesar A. Lopez, posted an on-line ad on the website ‘Craigslist,’ which described his preferences for either young college students or a single occupant, preferably female. This posting was discovered by the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. (CLC) during their routine checks of housing ads on public websites.

For more information on this story, please visit http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr08-032.cfm&CFID=10677779&CFTOKEN=64399078

New Survey Reveals Hopes of New Orleans Public Housing Residents

A recent survey indicates that most New Orleans residents that were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and relocated into public housing would like to return to the city, but not to public housing. This independent survey, commissioned by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and conducted by the University of Texas at Arlington, sampled over 2,100 current and former public housing residents and discovered that only 35% prefer to return to public housing in New Orleans.

For more information on the results of this survey, please http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr08-031.cfm&CFID=10677779&CFTOKEN=64399078

HUD Issues Statement on Redevelopment of Public Housing in New Orleans

HUD recently released a statement in order to clear up confusion about the state of public housing in New Orleans – confusion that extended to charges that the government failed to consult with the community of New Orleans during the development process. This statement explained HUD’s goals to improve the standard of living for minority and low-income families in the wake of the hurricane, so that families can return to housing not only of greater quality than the public housing offered, but of greater quality than ever before.

To read HUD’s statement, please visit http://www.hud.gov/news/releasedocs/2008-02-28.cfm