MidWest Region Stories | Housing Affairs Letter

HUD Threatens Ohio Fair Housing Move

The law would also target housing activists involved in undercover operations as “testers” to file civil-rights complaints against landlords. Backers of the measure say it is designed to protect landlords and other housing providers from costly legal battles filed by activists posing as applicants, known as “testers,” to catch discriminatory landlords.

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Ohio Challenges Its Fair Housing Rules

Opponents say Senate Bill 349 is fundamentally un-American and would make the state’s fair housing law unenforceable while backers contend it would protect landlords from being victimized by fair housing organizations that receive a share of financial penalties imposed on landlords they accuse of housing violations.

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St. Louis Incubator For Land Use Ideas

The city of St. Louis and Washington University in St. Louis plan to launch a living laboratory to showcase innovative ideas for transforming vacant land into sustainable assets for communities

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Justice Obstruction Alluded In Letter

Four Republican lawmakers ask the Justice Department to answer why it allowed St. Paul, MN to drop a pending lawsuit regarding the Fair Housing Act. The lawsuit challenged the concept of “disparate impact” which allows fair housing claims although the policy in question has no intention of discrimination even if bias occurs because of it

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Mayor Opposes Eminent Domain Move

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) opposes a proposal made to the City Council that would allow the city to use eminent domain to take properties at risk of foreclosure and refinance the mortgages to prevent foreclosures.

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Asbestos Red Tape Slows Demolitions

Ohio cities and the state's congressional delegation want the Environmental Protection Agency to ease asbestos remediation rules they contend are slowing efforts by cities and land banks to raze and rehabilitate abandoned properties for neighborhood stabilization and redevelopment.

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Town Gears Up For Rental Onslaught

Communities across the nation are facing a problem that until recently primarily plagued urban areas, the supply and maintenance of rental housing and control of their health and safety features in the wake of the foreclosure crisis.

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Sweetheart Low-Income Housing Contract

HUD accuses former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) of greasing a path for his longtime fried Bobby Ferguson and his construction associates to land a city contract for a low-income housing project. The accusation by HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary Donald LaVoy surfaced in testimony

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City Fights Own Housing Authority

Loveland, CO city officials complain directly to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan that the Housing Authority of the City of Loveland (HACL), a function separate from city government, has overcharged residents in a senior community

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Indiana PHA Sells Electricity

A $10 million renovation of a public housing project by the Indianapolis Housing Authority lands the public housing agency a contract to supply electricity to a local power generating firm and earns it at least $20,000 a year in royalties.

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