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HUD has proposed new regulations to ensure that its housing programs are open to all eligible persons, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Recent studies suggest that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and families do not have equal access to housing. For example, a 2007 report by Michigan's Fair Housing Centers found that nearly 30 percent of same-sex couples were treated differently when attempting to buy or rent a home.
HUD recently launched a Web site that consolidates a wide variety of economic and housing market data at the regional, state, metropolitan area, and county levels. The Web site draws on data from the Census Bureau, Labor Department, state and local governments, housing industry sources, as well as HUD's field economists, to populate interactive maps that allow site managers and staff to access a variety of reports—from a region-wide look at employment and housing activity to individual county-level figures on population trends, rental activity, and vacancy rates.
Residents who receive temporary employment payments by the U.S. Census Bureau will be allowed to exclude that income through Sept. 30, 2011, according to HUD Notice PIH-2010-38 (HA). The notice applies to residents of public housing, Section 8 moderate rehabilitation, Housing Choice Voucher, and Section 8 project-based voucher and certificate programs.
To encourage owners of assisted sites to implement smoke-free housing policies, HUD recently posted a notice (H 2010-21) that sets the requirements for such policies. The notice applies only to those sites that choose to set such policies.
Whether owners choose to set policies that allow smoking in individual units but ban smoking in all common areas, or create policies to create a totally smoke-free site, the policies must:
HUD has released its first report on the state of fair housing in America. HUD's Fiscal Year 2009 annual State of Fair Housing Report highlights the agency's progress in enforcing the Fair Housing Act (FHA), identifies challenges that remain, and demonstrates its commitment to end housing discrimination. The key findings include:
HUD and the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) agencies received 10,242 complaints alleging a violation of the FHA. This was the fourth consecutive year that the number of housing discrimination complaints exceeded 10,000.
HUD is charging the owner of a Wisconsin apartment complex and its management company with discrimination for denying an accessible parking space to a resident who has difficulty walking and has braces on both legs.
HUD has charged a nonprofit community service agency in Miami with violating the Fair Housing Act by refusing to make one of its units accessible for a disabled veteran. The charges were filed against the Urban League Housing Corporation of Greater Miami, its president, and a management company.
The charges have come as a shock to the community, where, according to the Miami NewTimes, the Urban League has been instrumental in desegregating public housing and reinforcing Miami's Fair Housing Ordinance.
Nearly 14 years after the Lead Disclosure Rule was put into place, HUD is still encountering site owners and managers who are violating the rule. Just recently, HUD announced settlements with two San Antonio owners for failing to warn their residents that their homes may contain potentially dangerous lead paint.
HUD is charging two apartment building owners in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., with discriminating against a Vietnam-era veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder by denying his request to have a therapeutic service dog in his unit. HUD also contends that the owners retaliated against the resident by threatening to evict him because he filed a housing discrimination complaint.
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