Prairie State Legal Services Receives Grant To Combat Housing Discrimination
Prairie State Legal Services has received a $360,000 grant intended to help low-income residents fight housing discrimination.
These funds are coming from the Department of Housing and Urban Development‘s Fair Housing Initiatives Program. This grant award is part of 23 million dollars the agency has awarded distributed among 80 different non-profit organizations in order to fight housing discrimination.
Here’s what the Fair Housing Project does according to the organization’s website:
“The Fair Housing Project at Prairie State Legal Services investigates and challenges cases of discrimination by housing providers. The Project also helps clients resolve fair housing disputes and conducts community legal education on fair housing rights and responsibilities.
Fair housing is a very important issue that faces people all over the country, especially in poor, low-income areas. Fair housing means that a resident would not be discriminated in terms of housing. Under federal law, someone involved in being a housing provider cannot discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, or familial status. Being able to find housing can help change the trajectory of someone’s life, especially for a family. When a person has housing, they are more likely to be able to find work and avoid utter poverty. And it can especially crucial for families to live in safe, well-maintained housing so that kids can attend school, and have access to various resources that can help better their lives overall.
Prairie State Legal Service’s Fair Housing Project will use this $360,000 grant specifically to provide various services to potential victims of housing discrimination In Illinois’s Winnebago, Boone, Lake, and McHenry counties.
These services include:
- Negotiate on behalf of the person looking for housing with a landlord or other housing provider.
- Investigate a case of potential housing discrimination through the use of fair housing testing
- The Fair Housing Project can file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or Illinois Department of Human Rights or in court.
- If a complaint is filed The Fair Housing Project can represent a potential victim of housing discrimination in court.
Log on to GrantWatch.com for more housing grants. You will find them here