Clarification on source of income discrimination testing and enforcement: HUD has issued a memorandum to fair housing groups receiving HUD funding, clarifying that testing for source of income discrimination and SOI discrimination enforcement (in states and localities where it is prohibited) are eligible activities under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), because of the significant discriminatory impact of such policies and also as part of the agency’s mission to affirmatively further fair housing. The memo states that “FHEO reliably approves and provides payment for source of income testing and enforcement activities designed to address such discrimination even if the FHIP agency decides to pursue individual relief by filing a source of income complaint in a local or state court.” See the memo here (it hasn’t been posted on HUD’s website yet).
Secretary Cardona’s proposed grant priorities: We joined a comment letter led by the National Coalition on School Diversity (NCSD) last week commenting on the Secretary of Education’s “Supplemental Priorities and Definitions for Discretionary Grants Programs,” expressing concern that school integration was essentially buried as a 13th subcategory among six major categories of grant priorities – unlike the Secretary’s grant priorities during the Obama Administration, where school diversity goals were more prominently emphasized.
School discipline and school segregation: We also joined an NCSD comment letter on school discipline, which emphasizes the historical and current relationship between school segregation and harsh discipline practices.
Housing Mobility Conference, Nov 4: Because of continuing uncertainty about indoor events, PRRAC and Mobility Works have decided to move back to an all-virtual one-day conference on November 4th. More details and registration coming soon.
Racial Justice in Housing Finance: Josh Silver of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition just published a great review and summary of our recent collection, Racial Justice in Housing Finance: A Series on New Directions.
Exciting new job opportunities
Mobility Works is looking for its first Executive Director to lead the newly independent non-profit – this is an exciting opportunity to coordinate technical assistance and training for public housing agencies, and to expand housing opportunities for low-income families – see the job posting here.
The Urban Institute is advertising for a Senior Policy Fellow to lead the Urban’s work on inclusive growth and equitable recovery in U.S. cities, and we suspect there may be some great candidates among the recipients of this newsletter! See the posting here.
