FAIR HOOSIlNG NEWS - Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit

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Volume 29, No.2
September, 2007
FHC's TENTH ANNUAL
FAIR HOUSING LEADERSHIP AWARDS RECEPTION
SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 19, 2007
On September 19, 2007 the Michigan Association of Realtors (MAR), its President,
Furhad Waquad and its Chief Executive Officer, Bill Martin will be added to the group
of 30 other individuals and organizations that have received FHC Fair Housing
Leadership Awards during the past ten years. The Association and its executives are
being honored for the leadership they have provided in developing and implementing the first state realtor sponsored fair housing testing program in the United States.
Fair housing testing was, and still is, looked at with fear and distrust by many people
in the housing industry. Yet, without testing, real estate brokers have little way of knowing
if they, or the agents that they employ, may be treating potential customers differently
because of their race, religion, national origin or other legally protected characteristic. In 2005 MAR began negotiations with representatives of the Michigan Fair
Housing Centers, assisted by representatives from the Michigan Department of Civil
Rights and the National Fair Housing Alliance, to see if the groups could design a fair
housing testing program that would help identify differences in treatment provided to
(~the
testers by real estate firms and their agents without exposing the participating firms
to legal actions by the fair housing groups.
Furhad Waquad,
Chairperson,
Association of Realtors.
Michigan
Securing the support of a sufficient number of members of the Michigan Association
of Realtors to authorize the program was a challenging task that was led by Mr. Waquad
and Mr. Martin. After nearly 18 months of negotiations an agreement was reached and
covert fair housing testing has begun at real estate offices in Michigan that have
volunteered to participate in the MAR program. The participating Michigan FHCs have
agreed to conduct the fair housing tests and forward the results to MAR for its use with
member groups. If the project proves successful, it may be that other state realtor associations will wish to engage private, non-profit fair housing testing organizations in their
areas in similar real estate testing projects.
Furhad Waquad is a licensed real estate agent with Real EstateOne. His one year
term as President of MAR follows several years as a member of the MAR Board of
Directors in which he has consistently pushed for greater attention to fair housing issues.
A native of Pakistan who rose to the rank of Major in Pakistan's Army, Mr. Waquad
emigrated to the U.S. and has been a full-time realtor since 1988. Mr. Martin served
in the U.S. Army, was a trooper with the Michigan State Police, served four terms as
a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, was appointed by former
Governor John Engler to head the Michigan State Lottery and later, the Michigan
Department of Corrections. Mr. Martin has been the CEO of the Michigan Association
of Realtors since March, 2002.
~
Also being honored at the Tenth Awards Reception is Karen Johnson Moore, who,
is the fourth recipient of the Marvin Thomas Service Award. That award is given to retired
FHC "testers" who have faithfully served FHC as a tester in the tradition of the late Marvin
Thomas, FHC's Coordinator ofTesting from 1980 to his death in 2004. Both Karen and
her husband of 34 years, Columbus Moore, have served as FHC testers since 1984 and,
in 1989, Ms. Moore served as the Detroit area Test Coordinator for FHC's participation in the second national fair housing study funded by the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development the "Housing Discrimination Study". In 1987, working
with FHC-Detroit, Ms. Moore wrote and edited the Detroit Multi-Family Housing
Resource Guide for the Detroit Community Housing Resource Board, and later
(continued on page 4)
Bill Martin, Chief Executive Officer, Michigan
Association of Realtors.
Karen Johnson Moore, Executive
Holistic Development
Center.
Director,
Fair Housing News
Page2
Builder and Architect Agr.eeTo
Retrofit Units And Pay
$25,000 Fine To U.S.
Poverty and Race
Publishes Articles By
Fair Housing Practitioners
On August 6, 2007 Federal Judge Paul V. Gadola signed
a Consent Order that was negotiated and agreed to by the
parties in an "accessibility" discrimination lawsuit filed by the
United Statesagainst the builders, Palazzolo and Lombardi and
the architect, Robert Lipka in relation to the construction ofThe
Preserves, a condominium development, in Sterling Heights,
Michigan. In the federal housing discrimination complaint the
U.S. had charged the defendants with violations of the Fair
Housing Act by " ...failing to design and constructThe Preserves
in such a manner that:
Poverty and Race is a bi-monthly national newsletter
published by the Poverty and Race Research Action Council.
The bi-monthly newsletter was established "to facilitate and
encourage communications
among researchers, among
activists/advocates, and between the two groups ..." who are
working on issues of race and poverty. The first issue was
published in March, 1992, and while many of the issues
have contained articles about "fair housing" the May/June,
2007 issueof P & R is the first to have included articles by three
Directors of fair housing organizations in the United States.
a.the public use and common use portions of the dwellings
are readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities;
b.all doors are designed to allow passage into and within
the ground-floor units sufficiently wide to allow passage by
handicapped persons in wheelchairs;
c.all premises within such ground floor dwellings contain
the following features of adaptive design:
i.an accessible route into and through the dwelling;
ii.1ight switches, electrical outlets, thermostats and other
environmental controls in accessible locations;
iii.reinforcements in bathroom walls to allow later installation of grab bars; and
iv.usable kitchens, such that an individual
wheelchair can maneuver about the space."
using a
Testing by FHC-Detroit, under a contract funded by the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
identified problems in the construction of the units, leading to
negotiations by the U.S. Department of Justice with the
defendants that produced the Consent Order. Prior to the
signing of the Consent Order the defendants had already
expended in excess of $800,000 for accessibility modifications
to the property. The Consent Order calls on the defendants to:
make interior changes to over 40 units, construct ramps to
allow entry to 28 units, install handrails and properly positioned
doorbells where needed, conduct fair housing training for all
employees, pay the U.S. a $25,000 penalty and establish a
$25,000 fund for persons who were " ...discouraged from
living atThe Preservesbecause of the inaccessibility problems"
or who were " ...inconvenienced while living atThe Preserves
by the inaccessibility problems." In addition, the Consent Order
requires the defendants to place over $96,000 into a Retrofit
Fund, to administered by the Philip F. Greco Company, that
will be used to remedy violations inside of 12 ground floor units
where ownership has already been transferred to the individual
owners of the condo units.
Congratulations to U.S. Assistant Attorney Judith E. Levy
and to Stephen J. Murphy, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District
of Michigan for leading the local investigation and negotiations
in this case. Congratulations also to U.S. Assistant Attorney
General Wan J. Kim and his staff in Washington, D.C. for their
efforts in reaching a very successful resolution in this matter.
Attorney Levy reports that the defendants, once informed of
the violations, began to immediately make corrections in the
development and have cooperated with the Department of
Justice in reaching an agreement.
Rob Breymaier, Executive Director of the Oak Park, Illinois
Regional Housing Center and President of the Chicago Area
Fair Housing Alliance, contributed an article entitled "Affirmatively Furthering of Fair Housing: The 21 st Century
Challenge". Using the Chicago area as an example, Mr.
Breymaier noted the "dearth of affirmative action programs"
by communities that receive federal Community Development
Block Grants and, as a condition of receiving those funds, sign
assurancesto "affirmatively further fair housing". He noted that
if "a suburb that is 95% white does nothing to promote itself
affirmatively, it is essentially maintaining regional segregation
patterns."
"Payday Lending in Ohio" is an article in the same issue
of P & R by Jeffrey Dillmam, Executive Director of the Housing
Research & Advocacy Center in Cleveland, Ohio, that noted/'\
the explosive growth of payday lenders throughout the State
of Ohio, including the rural areas. The report noted that Ohio
law allows interest rates for some payday loans to exceed an
annual percentage rate of 300%. Mr. Dillman reports that the
Ohio Coalition for Responsible Lending is currently working
to develop legislation to limit payday lending in Ohio.
Cliff Schrupp, Executive Director of FHC-Detroit
contributed "Structural Racism: Focusing on the Cause", an
article that notes some positive changes by members of
housing industry in Michigan as examples of the effectiveness
of housing discrimination litigation as a stimulant to help
produce significant behavioral changes in relation to the
issue of race and white racism as it is practiced in this country.
Subscription information for Poverty and Race can be obtained
by calling 202-906-8023 or by E-mail: [email protected].
FLASH
FHC-Detroit has just received word from Attorney Saul A.
Green that a proposed Consent Order in FHC and the u.s. v
General Properties has been submitted to and signed by U.S.
District Court Judge Gerald Rosen.The Consent Order requires
the defendants in this case to pay a total of $725,000 to the
U.s:, to FHC and to 21 "aggrieved persons" for damages that
they have alleged in relation to their attempts to obtain
housing at the Whispering Woods Apartments in Livonia,~
Michigan. Attorney Green and Rivka Schochet of Miller,
Canfield Paddock and Stone represented the FHC, while
Attorneys Judith E. Levy, Stephen J. Murphy, Joseph Gaeta,
Steven H. Rosenbaum and Wan J. Kim represented the U.S.
There will be more details about the settlement of this case in
the next issue of Fair Housing News.
Fair Housing News
Page 3
Federal Judge Allows
"Affirmatively Further Fair Housing"
Lawsuit To Proceed
CMS Energy Helps FHC Produce
"Fostering Welcoming Communities"
Video
In a case filed by the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro
New York, Inc., agai nst the County of Westchester, New York,
Federal District Court Judge for the Southern District of New
York, Denise Cote, has denied the County's motion to dismiss
and has allowed the Center's lawsuit under the Federal False
Claims Act to proceed. The Center has alleged that the County
falsely claimed that it had adequately conducted an analysis
of impediments to the exercise of fair housing choice and had
failed to affirmatively further fair housing as required of all
communities that receive federal funds under the Community
Development Block Grant Act.
Thanks to CMS Energy and its Senior Vice President for
Government and Public Affairs, David Mengebier, FHC now
has an 8 minute video to be used to assist in telling the
"Fostering Welcoming Communities" story. As readers of this
newsletter may recall, far too many of the requests for
assistancethat FHC has received have come from persons who
are being harassed by neighbors or unknown persons because
of their race, national origin, disability status, sex or other
personal and legally protected characteristic. Those calls have
prompted FHC to develop the "Fostering Welcoming
Communities" program as an attempt to organize citizens and
groups in the metropolitan Detroit area to provide assistance
to victims of hate crimes and to take steps to prevent and
eliminate such practices.
In her Opinion and Order Judge Cote held " ...that a local
government entity that certifies to the federal government that
it will affirmatively further fair housing as a condition to its
receipt of federal funds must consider the existence and
impact of race discrimination on housing opportunities and
choice in its jurisdiction." The Center argues that Westchester,
an "urban" County under the CDBG program that includes 45
municipal entities, falsely and knowingly claimed and certified
to the Federal government that it had compl ied with its
assurances to "affirmatively further fair housing." Judge Cote
affirmed that "At this stage of the litigation, the Center has sufficiently pled under the FCA that Westchester made false
claims 'knowing of [their] falsity."'
This is believed to be the first such action brought under
the FalseClaims Act against any recipient of CDBG funds. There
are over 20 such CDBG Act recipients, including three "urban"
counties, in the metropolitan Detroit area. Representing the
plaintiffs in this matter are attorneys Michael Allen, Stephen
M. Dane and John P. Reiman of Reiman & Dane, PLLC.
Mr. Mengebier, Derek Finley, President and CEO of the
Finley Manufacturing Group and Robert Mason, Manager of
Strategy,Alliances and Business Development for the Chrysler
Corporation have been working with FHC staff and Board
members to explore ways to identify and develop sources of
support, including financial support, for the "Fostering
Welcoming Communities" program. Those thoughts prompted
the development of a video, featuring the experiences of two
persons who had been victims of hate crimes, Stacy Peardon,
a Real Estate Consultant with Keller-Williams and Anthony J.
Lewis, Esq., of the Anthony J. Lewis Law Office.
Gerald W. Smith, Director of Government Affairs for
COMCAST Cablevision served as host and interviewer for the
short video, and FHC Board Chairperson, Noel J. Saleh
explained how the "Fostering Welcoming Communities"
program can help heal and prevent hate crimes in the metro
Detroit area. The video was filmed in the law offices of Wood
Kull Herschfus Obee and Kull, with special thanks to FHC
Board member Attorney John Obee for hosting the filming
session. The production, filming and editing of the video was
in the very capable hands of the Corporate Communications
office at CMS Energy, led by Mr. William Crane, Media
Programs Director. For more information about the video or
to inquire about a showing of the video, please contact Cliff
Schrupp at the FHC office: 313-963-1274.
National Recovery Now Reaches "$245,000,000
and Counting"
The 13th edition of the national litigation log produced for the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) by FHC-Detroit,
$245,000,000 and Counting, was released at the June, 2007 annual meeting of the NFHA and is available from FHC-Detroit at
$6/copy. The log includes aggregated information on the 2,443 housing discrimination lawsuits that were assistedby the fair housing
organizational members of NFHA since 1990, including information on the 1,780 lawsuits with $245,111,065 in disclosed financial
recovery for the plaintiffs. The report includes case by case information on each of the 1,380 lawsuits that were "open" or have
been filed between 1/1/2000 and 12131/06. Since 11112000 there have been 726 closed cases with disclosed financial recovery
of $78,385,458 for the plaintiffs.
In a letter of "Greetings" included in the log from the Chairperson of the NFHA Board of Directors, Jim McCarthy, President
and CEO of the Miami Valley FHC in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. McCarthy noted that "This report demonstrates that the private fair housing
~~ovement
is not only ready, but uniquely qualified to partner with industry and government to address the problem of housing
,
'discrimination." The log includes brief summaries of some of the litigations, including a summary of a $6,260,000 settlement
in Hope and the u.S. v Arlington Park Race Course near Chicago, Illinois, that was assisted by the HOPE Fair Housing Center
in Wheaton, Illinois. Just over 100 private, non-profit fair housing groups from 34 states and the District of Columbia provided
information on assisted litigations for $245,000,000 and Counting. Michael Olshan, FHC's Legal Services Coordinator, compiled
the data for the report that was entered by FHC's Computer Services Coordinator, Timothy Davis, into a computer program prepared
by Dr. Nigel Hinds of the IBM Corporation.
Fair Housing News
Page4
Tenth Annual leadership Awards Reception
(continued from page 1)
served in several appointed positions under the administration
of former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer. Ms. Moore is currently
the Executive Director of the Holistic Community Development
Center.
The Tenth Reception will, once again, be held at the
Renaissance Club located in the 200 Tower of the Renaissance
Center on Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit, thanks to the
assistance of Attorney Reuben Munday, a member of the
Club. The Reception will be held on September 19, 2007,
beginning with hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar at 5:00 PM, with
the Awards to be presented at 6:00 PM. The Reception will
conclude by 7:00. For ticket information, or to order tickets at
$50/each, please contact FHC by phone (313-963-1274) or by
Email: [email protected].
Patron Sponsors
AAA Michigan
The Associated Management Company
Century 21 - Town & Country
Down River Association of Realtors
Franklin Bank
Green Hill Apartments
Group Five Management
Hannett, Wilson & Whitehouse, Realtors
Independent Management Services
LR Management Services Corp.
McDonald Management
FHC extends its thanks to the Corporate and Organizational Sponsors for the Tenth Reception. They are:
Midwest Management L.L.C.
SiIver Sponsors
Pearl Insurance
COMERICA Charitable Foundation
Presbyterian Villages of Michigan
LaSalle Bank
River Bend Apartments
Bronze Sponsors
Additional Sponsors are welcome. Please contact Cliff
Schrupp at the FHC office: 313-963-1274.
New Detroit, Inc.
ACCESS
Flagstar Bank
Fourmidable
Huntington Bank
Lautrec, LTD
Metropolitan Consolidated Association of Realtors
Michigan Association of Realtors
Michigan State Housing Development Authority
National City Bank
FAIR HOUSING
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Wood Kull Herschfus Obee & Kull
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