Harvard Study Finds Rental Affordability Lowest Ever

The just-released Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies report America's Rental Housing 2024 has found that in 2022 an all-time high of 22.4 million renters spent over 30% of their income on rent and utilities. Among cost-burdened households, 12.1 million had housing costs that were more than half of their income, an all-time high for such severe burdens. The dwindling supply of low-rent units is only worsening cost burdens, according to the report. As the study explains: "Climbing rents in recent years propelled US cost burdens to staggering new heights: in 2022, half of all US renters were cost burdened. And while rental markets are finally cooling, evictions have risen, the country is seeing the highest homelessness counts on record, and the need for rental assistance is greater than ever."

The negative personal impacts of such tight budgets force financially vulnerable renters to make awful choices. Harvard Joint Center analysis of the 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey found that severely cost-burdened renter households in the lowest expenditure quartile spent 39% less on food and 42% less on healthcare than unburdened households. Others may end up living in overcrowded or  structurally inadequate conditions, threatening their health and well-being.

Local Data

For the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area, 86% of renters are considered moderately burdened by the report, and 103% severely burdened. This geographic combination is the sole local breakdown available in the study.

Concerning the renters' race, about 175,000 renters in the area are Black, 134,000 White, 25,000 Hispanic/Latino, 18,000 Asian, and 18,000 multi-racial or another race. Some 52.1% of Blacks are renters, 21.1% of Whites, 45.8% of Hispanics/Latinos, 31.2% of Asians, and 50.1% multi-racial or another race.

Read the Harvard Joint Center study

Go to the Harvard report's summary page.

HUD Settles Tennessee Apartment Violations of Americans with Disabilities Act and the Violence Against Women Act

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has entered into a Voluntary Compliance Agreement with HUD-funded Tennessee housing providers Alco Greenbriar Partners LP, Alco Properties, Inc., and Alco Management, Inc., requiring the respondents to pay $50,000 in compensation to the aggrieved parties. The VCA resolves findings of noncompliance related to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as findings of noncompliance related to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Read the Agreement, Letter of Findings and the VAWA Memo.

The case began with a limited compliance review initiated by HUD in 2022 regarding Greenbriar Apartments, a 208-unit development in Tennessee. HUD found that the respondents effectively denied multiple reasonable accommodation/modification requests, as well as instances of VAWA noncompliance regarding two households that experienced incidents of sexual assault and/or domestic violence and were not provided the requested VAWA transfers or take any additional action to process the requests.

HUD also found that the respondents were unwilling to transfer residents from one Alco property to another when a vacancy that met the need of the requesting tenant was unavailable at Greenbriar, that 5% of the units were not accessible to individuals with mobility impairments, and 2% more of the units were not accessible to individuals with hearing or vision impairments.

Under the 2023 Agreement resolving the Section 504 findings and VAWA issues, the respondents agreed to: pay $50,000 in monetary compensation for the five aggrieved parties; amend its reasonable accommodation transfer log; revise the transfer policy; revise its VAWA policies; construct or convert 10 UFAS-accessible units, with an additional 4 units for the hearing and visually impaired and accessible common areas; designate a VAWA Coordinator; respond to VAWA-related grievances and transfer requests within 10 days; and attend VAWA training.

Anyone who feels they have experienced discrimination in housing may file a complaint by contacting HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (Federal Relay Service). Housing providers' responsibilities to provide reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications to individuals with disabilities are available here.

Read the January 25, 2023 HUD release.

HUD Charges Montana Property Manager and Apartment Complex Owner with Retaliation

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it is charging an individual property manager and ownership entity in Livingston, Montana, for retaliation against a tenant for their exercise of fair housing rights, retaliatory behavior including coercion, intimidation, threats, or interference in violation of Section 818 of the Fair Housing Act. Read HUD’s Charge. The Fair Housing Act prohibits retaliation for exercising fair housing rights, as well as coercing, intimidating, threatening, or interfering with someone’s exercise of those rights. HUD’s Charge alleges that the property manager and owner of a Livingston, Montana, ten-unit apartment complex retaliated against a tenant after the tenant informed the property manager that his unwanted conduct toward her daughter was inappropriate given the property manager’s position as landlord. After the tenant confronted the property manager, the property manager took several retaliatory actions, including sending multiple threats of eviction, revoking tenancy privileges, and sending harassing text messages, ending in seeking to evict the complainant. The tenant felt forced to leave the unit and seek out alternative, less desirable housing because of the retaliation. A U. S. Administrative Law Judge will hear HUD’s charge unless any party elects to have the case heard in Federal district court. If the Administrative Law Judge finds, after a hearing, that discrimination has occurred, the judge may award damages to the resident for his losses as a result of the discrimination; injunctive relief and other equitable relief to deter further discrimination and payment of attorney fees; and civil penalties to vindicate the public interest. If the Federal court hears the case, the Judge may also award punitive damages to the resident. People who believe they are the victims of housing discrimination should contact HUD at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). More information is available at www.hud.gov/fairhousing and www.justice.gov.

You can follow Secretary Fudge on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. ***** Read the January 23, 2024 HUD release.

There will be four focused sessions on changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) at NCRC's April 3-4 2024 Just Economy Conference.

 

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) will be hosting four focused sessions on changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) at its 2024 Just Economy Conference. The CRA requires banks to lend in the communities where they do business. The federal regulators overseeing CRA announced late in 2023 a much-needed overhaul of this important economic justice law. These sessions will treat the changes as well as the implications for community development and equity.

Register Now

The sessions are:   The New CRA 101 (ROUND 1) This session covers the updated CRA, which encourages financial institutions to meet the credit needs of low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods and requires federal banking agencies to assess the record of meeting these standards and evaluate their efforts. We will explore how CRA can be used to increase affordable housing and small business reinvestment in your communities, including crucial updates to the rule announced in late 2023.    The New CRA 101 (ROUND 2) Addressing the Climate Crisis through CRA and federal funding Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of storms, heat waves, fires and other weather-related disasters, with communities of color and low-income households the most affected. CRA’s definition of community development was recently updated to encourage banks to finance weather resiliency. This session will cover climate/weather resiliency projects and priorities, including how best to work with communities to prevent bluelining, a trend where financial institutions withdraw services or increase costs due to climate change.    What's Next With The CRA Final Rule This session will focus on what's coming next with CRA reform and upcoming opportunities to further shape the development of the new CRA rule. Speakers will be covering topics including: developing a statistical model that identifies markets where all banks are underperforming, best practices for reviewing the impact of community development on neighborhoods, and how the regulators can be proactive in preventing a decline in critical investments.   State CRA And Non-Banks Community advocates, along with state and local elected officials, are increasingly pushing for state CRA laws that bring in more resources and fix gaps in the federal CRA rules, especially since more and more lending is done by institutions not covered by federal CRA. This session will explore how state CRA laws include a review of credit unions and mortgage companies' loans and investments in underserved people and neighborhoods, in addition to banks.    Register now.

Free Census Webinar on Income, Poverty, & Educational Data by Race is January 25th

Entitled The Exploration of Income, Poverty and Educational Census Data, the free 60-minute webinar presented by the Census Bureau will be on January 25, 2024 beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST. In this webinar, the Census staff will provide and explore current data to understand select income, poverty, education statistics, & tables organized by race (black and white), age, and sex.

This webinar is 60-minutes, and begins at 2:00 PM EST. Registration in advance is required. Request ASL at (ask.data@census.gov) and allow a minimum of 72 hours notice. For a refresher on Census tools or topics, please refer to the Census' previous webinar series It’s All in the Tools or Back to Data Basics.

The webinar is part of the U.S. Census Academy's 2024 webinar series, “Exploring the Diversity of Census Bureau Data.” It is a great way to learn about how to access and use current data trends in race, income, etc., as well as how to use helpful data analysis tools. "This webinar series uses real-life scenarios to help the attendee to learn how to locate and use data tools to access Census Bureau data.  “Exploring the Diversity of Census Bureau Data” is broken down into four mini-series topics which provide an expanded look at our (the Census Bureau) data on these topics:

• Race.
• Geography.
• Business and economy.
• Population and housing.

Each is 60 minutes with prior registration required.

Here are some upcoming Census webinars on diversity issues that sound interesting:

On February 8, 2024. the Census will present its An Overview of Hispanics in America webinar. This webinar provides an overview of the Hispanic population in the U.S.

The February 22, 2024, webinar will be Exploring the Diversity and Growth of the Asian American Population. "Build your knowledge to paint a local portrait of Asian Americans using Census Bureau data."

There are a number of free Census webinars after February that concern Using CBP Non-Employer Statistics (NES) to Evaluate Change, the TIGERweb, Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs), among several others.

*****

Source: Go to the Census Bureau's series website.

Anthony Wann Williams, Homeless Advocate dies

Williams died May 8, 2023, in Baltimore. Born in East Baltimore, he grew up in the foster system and later in Baltimore, was a fierce advocate for the rights of the poor and unhoused. He focused on identifying the barriers people experiencing homelessness faced, what were the solutions, and how they could be implemented, while making certain that the conversation was led by those affected. “His impact was  immeasurable,” said Rachel Kutler of Housing Our Neighbors (HON), a collective of people experiencing homelessness and their allies and advocates that Williams co-founded in 2012 and helped lead.

A writer, photographer and poet, Williams documented his early life on the streets and in the abandoned buildings in a play, “The King of Howard Street" based on the portraits he wrote of the people with whom he once lived. He also wrote of his journey of survival in composition notebooks, emphasizing the bonds and struggles of the homeless communities.

While living at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter in New York, he met Lewis Haggins Jr., and the two co-founded Picture the Homeless in 1999. The group aims to promote the voices and stories of unhoused people into mainstream media and policy discussions via collective organizing and sharing the stories of people experiencing homelessness.

In Baltimore, Williams regularly fought to include those who were or had been homeless in the decision-making processes of programs that affected unhoused people. He was co-chair of the city’s Lived Experience Advisory Committee. Williams also was an early participant in the New York City Continuum of Care and the Baltimore City Continuum of Care, a program set up by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to guide housing and homelessness spending. 

During the coronavirus epidemic, Williams advocated for Baltimore’s unhoused, criticizing the homeless services’ office for he felt was not able to develop a comprehensive plan to use American Rescue Plan Act funds to move away from its system of congregate living facilities.

His longtime friend and fellow Picture the Homeless organizer, Lynn Lewis recorded hours of interviews with him for an oral history project. 

Williams was honored at an August 22, 2023 celebration of life at St. Vincent de Paul in Baltimore.

*****

Read the January 15, 2024 Baltimore Sun obituary.

Read the December 31, 2023 Baltimore Brew article.

Read the September 5, 2023 Baltimore Beat article.

Annapolis Human Rights Day is February 5, 2024

 

The Maryland Association of Human Rights Agencies (MAHRA) invites you to attend their 2024 Human Rights Day in Annapolis on Monday, February 5, 2024. The event will take place from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Michael E. Busch Annapolis Library (1410 West Street, Annapolis, MD 21401).  Held annually, Human Rights Day in Annapolis serves as an opportunity for human rights agencies, elected officials, community stakeholders, and residents to discuss critical human rights topics, review important bills pertaining to human rights in the upcoming legislative cycle, and strategize how to address human rights concerns in our respective regions in the State of Maryland.   THIS IS A FREE EVENT & LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED To register for this year's Human Rights Day in Annapolis, please visit bit.ly/2024-MAHRA.  Victim of Discrimination? Training & Partnerships HOME      ABOUT MCCR      SERVICES      PUBLICATIONS      EVENTS      PRESS      CONTACT US

MD Stop the Hare is January 18th

 

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Join MCCR Join MCCR January 18, 2024 for the #StopTheHate #ReportHateBias #SpreadHopeNotHate Social Media Storm!!! All Day, All Social Media Platforms Hashtags #StopTheHate #ReportHateBias #SpreadHopeNotHate #MCCRUnitedAgainstHate Social Media Handles                     LinkedIn: Maryland Commission on Civil Rights                    X/Twitter: @MDCivilRights                        Facebook: Maryland Commission on Civil Rights               Instagram: @MDCivilRights   Sample Posts Bias or hate crimes are crimes motivated by the perpetrator's bias or attitude against an individual victim or group based on perceived or actual personal characteristics, such as their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.    Call 911 immediately. Hate crimes that aren't reported can't be investigated or         prosecuted. mccr.maryland.gov                         #StopTheHate #ReportHateBias #SpreadHopeNotHate                      #MCCRUnitedAgainstHate                  ______________________________________________________________ A hate/bias incident is any act or expression of hostility or aggression that is motivated by bias against a protected class but does not constitute a crime under State or federal law. mccr.maryland.gov        #StopTheHate  #ReportHateBias  #SpreadHopeNotHate   #MCCRUnitedAgainstHate  ______________________________________________________________ Finding help for victims is important. The Justice Department-funded Victim Connect Resource Center provides information and assistance to victims of crimes, including hate crimes. Trained victim assistance specialists are available at no cost to help victims find local support services at 1-855-484-2846 or by chat at the website linked below. mccr.maryland.gov #StopTheHate #ReportHateBias #SpreadHopeNotHate #MCCRUnitedAgainstHate  ______________________________________________________________ 11,288 single-bias incidents involved 13,278 victims  In 346 incidents, a total of 433 victims were targeted because of more than one bias. mccr.maryland.gov #StopTheHate #ReportHateBias #SpreadHopeNotHate #MCCRUnitedAgainstHate Victim of Discrimination? Training & Partnerships HOME      ABOUT MCCR      SERVICES      PUBLICATIONS      EVENTS      PRESS      CONTACT US