Buffalo, despite holding the nickname "the city of good neighbors," is the seventh most segregated community in the U.S., according to Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME).
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will attempt to change this with a three-year $791,539 grant to HOME for fair housing education and enforcement in Western New York (WNY), spanning form Buffalo to Rochester.
"HOME works to promote integrated neighborhoods that have a balance between people of all walks of life," said Grace McKenzie, education coordinator for HOME. "We have a long way to go but there is much hope also."
HOME will spend approximately $250,000 a year for bus shelters and bus advertisements against discrimination and run four different programs.
One program will offer free counseling and advice to landlords, tenants, discrimination victims, and anyone with a question about fair housing.
"Anyone who needs us, we will be there for them," McKenzie said.
HOME has an educational outreach program in which organizations or businesses may have an interactive presentation on fair housing geared towards tenants, landlords or the laws in general.
The HOME mobility program provides Erie County's Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher recipients with a security deposit to move from high poverty areas into communities with more opportunities. HOME often works with the homeless and low-income families with this program.
HOME monitors patterns of illegal discriminatory practices by evaluating newspapers and the Internet for discriminatory advertising.
Recently, HOME settled a case with UB's Sub-Board, Inc. whose online advertisements discriminately stated, "males preferred" and "single female preferred." According to HOME, the UB Web site is working to free itself of discriminatory language when landlords place ads.
"We especially want to reach out to college students who are perhaps getting their first apartment off campus," McKenzie said. "They especially should know their rights under the fair housing laws so that they do not put up with any situations that may be uncomfortable
HOME has discovered two communities that have a good reputation when it comes to fair housing-the town of Hamburg, which has a progressive fair housing ordinance, and the town of Amherst, which works with HOME to promote fair housing.
HOME's future goals include the challenge of expanding their services beyond Erie County into the five adjoining counties.
Though HOME currently works with various organizations such as Gerard Place, Back to Basics Outreach Ministry and Home Front in the Buffalo region, they hope to provide help and information to a wide range of areas spanning from Niagara Falls to Jamestown.
The grant from HUD to HOME will be used to further educate WNY citizens of fair housing laws.
"We want everyone to know their rights, from the freshman college student to the newly retired senior moving into a senior complex for the first time and everyone in between," McKenzie said.
