1999 Annual Report
Message From the President
Dear Friends:
As we conclude 1999 and move into year 2000, into another century and into a new millennium, I am struck by the entire notion of time. The 43 years of existence of the Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia may seem like a small, almost soundless tick of the clock, when considered on the grand scale of a thousand years of time. Hate, discrimination, differences among people, the struggle for freedom of residence and access to human rights far preceded the establishment of this Council and actually led to its formation. Would that we could say that such issues have been resolved and that our suburbs as well as other local, national and international communities now live in peace and acceptance of difference.
This moment in time, this seemingly limited period of 43 years, however, really has made a difference in the lives of people and of principles. The Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia has existed for almost half of this century, longer than any other Fair Housing Council in this country. It has moved from a small volunteer band of committed souls, to a structured paid organization, still small and still struggling, but with a staff and the continuing support and guidance of people who believe in the basic principles of human dignity and freedom of residence.
The year 1999 has had its ups and downs through contracts with cash flow problems, staff holding their breath for payrolls, board members willing to intercede financially, and now, a more steady financial projection for the year ahead. In addition to funding and litigation highlights, the key activity of the year has been our board and staff planning process. This culminated in a Planning Advance Conference on October 30, 1999, to which all Council members were invited, and a summary report that was printed in the Council newsletter. The outcomes of this Advance will be acted on by our Board 2000 and staff, to increase the Council's progress in implementing our primary purpose of promoting open housing.
Let us remember that it is not just the moment in time that is important; it is how we choose to use it.
Jean E. Moore, Ed.D.
, President of the Board of DirectorsIntroduction
The Fair Housing Council of Suburban Philadelphia’s mission is to advocate and work for freedom of residence. During the last 43 years, the Council has changed its name 4 times and expanded its service area to include Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties, and some activities have extended into the City of Philadelphia, Berks County, Lancaster County, Southern New Jersey, and the state of Delaware. During its history, the Council has worked with many nationally known organizations including National Neighbors, the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the National Fair Housing Alliance, the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
We would like to say that our proud heritage has ended housing discrimination. Unfortunately, the many people who call the Council yearly with discrimination complaints would attest to the fact that discrimination is alive and well. Yet, in its 43 years, the Council has successfully opened more than 44,000 units to members of protected classes in our service area, and we are proud to say that the Council has never been stronger. We are very excited about the activities being planned to help fight housing discrimination during the next millennium. Our goal is that organizations such as ours will not need to exist in the 3rd millennium and will be able to celebrate housing discrimination as a thing of the past. We would like to thank our many individual supporters this year for their commitment to helping us end housing discrimination. In addition we would like to thank our major funders and contributors:
 | Bucks County Office of Housing & Community Development |
| Chester County Office of Housing & Community Development |
| City of Chester Economic Development Authority |
| Community Support Corporation |
| Delaware County Office of Housing & Community Development |
| The Philadelphia Foundation |
| U.S. Office of Housing & Urban Development |
| Union Benevolent Association |
Education Report
The Council’s Education program is one of its most important programs. Our educational activities are the only way that information can be disseminated to consumers, counselors, advocates, government employees and housing providers. We all know that information is power. Without information individuals cannot know what their rights and responsibilities are under the law. Fair Housing is a Civil Rights law with very little public enforcement. Housing discrimination today rarely occurs in the blatant ways that it did a decade ago. Now it usually happens with a smile and a handshake. The Council attends and hosts educational programs so that individuals can recognize housing discrimination when they encounter it, so that housing counselors can recognize it when their clients encounter it, so that government employees understand the ramifications of housing discrimination on their constituents, and so that housing providers understand their responsibilities under the law.
Council staff spoke at 31 different agencies and events in 1999 and 1,072 individuals were trained in Fair Housing. The following is a list of the many events:
| Bucks County Coalition for African American Concerns |
| Bucks County Housing Group |
| Bucks County NAACP |
| Chester Community Improvement Project. |
| Chester County Office of Housing & Community Development |
| Chester Partners in Homeownership, Mortgage Fair |
| DELARC |
| Delaware County Housing Authority, Section 8 Program (2 sessions) |
| Delaware County Legal Assistance |
| Delaware County’s Homeownership First Program (8 sessions) |
| Family Services Association of Bucks County |
| Life Guidance Center, Sharon Hill |
| Media Unitarian Church Racism Committee |
| Pendell Homeless Shelter, Bucks County Housing Group |
| Philadelphia Mounted Troopers |
| Residential Living Options, Inc. |
| Tri-State Association of Realtors, Continuing Education Program |
| U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development |
| Willow Grove NAACP |
In addition to the above, in April the Council co-sponsored a seminar on Accessible Design and the Fair Housing Act. The seminar was held at the Chadd’s Ford Ramada Inn and was attended by over 100 attorneys, builders, developers, architects, Realtors, local and federal government employees, and fair housing and disability advocates. The seminar was a joint project between the Council and the Homebuilders Association of Chester & Delaware Counties (HBA). Funding for the seminar was provided by the Council, the HBA, the Chester County Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD), the Delaware County OHCD, the U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), and the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) Research Center. Speakers at the Seminar included Gary Koerner, Executive Vice President of the HBA, Rhonda Daniels and Jay Murdoch of the NAHB Research Center, Ira Goldstein of HUD, and Jim Varhola, a member of the PA Accessibility Advisory Board with the PA Department of Labor & Industry Affairs. This seminar was a grand success and we received praises from attendees and the NAHB Research Center for months.
Through a grant from Delaware County Office of Housing & Urban Development, the Council has been training consumers, housing counselors, disability advocates, and housing providers. In addition, Delaware County funded the creation of a new publication this year entitled Delaware County Fair Housing News. This publication went to 1,425 industry professionals and advocates in Delaware County and received rave reviews from the County and various recipients. The Council is still receiving calls from individuals requesting to be added to the mailing list for this publication. The Council also has Community Development Block Grants from Bucks & Chester counties and the City of Chester to perform various fair housing training sessions.
The Council published two issues of its fair housing newsletter Fairways this year. This newsletter once referred to as the “cutting edge of fair housing issues in the region” by Tri-County MLS, currently has a circulation of 1,089 members, consumers, housing providers, government employees, and fair housing advocates across the nation.
Enforcement Report
The Council’s educational programs are at the core of Council activities. Yet doing education without also having investigational tools to follow-up complaints and enforcement mechanisms in place to assure fair housing compliance would make education worthless. The Council’s programs of education and enforcement go hand-in-hand.
This year saw an increase in the amount of complaints of discrimination the Council received. The following chart shows a breakdown based on the type of discrimination individuals are experiencing.
These statistics show an increase in complaints based on racial discrimination over last year. Following a receipt of a complaint, one procedure that the Council uses to determine whether or not there has been discrimination, is to send testers to a given rental or sales property. The Council is in the process of finishing a 2-year long project of testing for compliance with fair housing laws through a grant from the US Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program for Private Enforcement, that funded a position for Coordinator of Testing, Deborah Butler. During the last year 168 tests have been conducted. The majority of these tests have been performed on the basis of race. We are looking forward to tabulating the results of the entire 2 year contract early in the year 2000. The following charts show a breakdown of these tests based on type and protected class.
Protected Class
Housing Type
The most dramatic change in complaint intake statistics show the highest level of complaints regarding disability issues the Council has ever received in a calendar year, a 16% increase over last year. Many of these complaints were dealt with through letters and phone calls educating housing providers about their responsibilities under fair housing laws.
On the positive side, the Council’s intake statistics for this year show that there is a marked decrease in discrimination against families with children, a 12% decrease over last year. We would like to attribute this to the Council’s hard work over the last several years in getting the message out that it is illegal to discriminate against families with children. It can also be attributed to the Council’s 8-year long battle with the Pennsylvania newspaper industry in eliminating illegal advertising stating preferences for families without children.
In addition to the Newspaper victory this year, the Council settled 4 other complaints of housing discrimination. These victories bring the tabulation of the number of units opened in the Council’s history to over 44,000 units. Considering that the Council has been a volunteer organization or run by a skeleton staff for the majority of its existence makes these results even more remarkable.
Consulting Report
The Council’s Compliance Consulting program is a way for housing providers and lenders to assess their performance under fair housing laws. Council staff is available to help a company analyze its past sales, rental and lending activity, customer base and HMDA data. The Council will also create custom made training programs for staff to help them keep up to date on all the fair housing laws including recent changes. The Council also has a “self-testing” program to help housing professionals determine if there are any subtle differences in their policies and practices that could inadvertently be having a discriminatory effect on their clients.
This year, the Council trained several housing providers in Fair Housing Law. Often providers must attend such training after having been a party to a complaint. The Council is available to train housing providers who want to provide continuing education for their employees. Unfortunately not many housing providers avail themselves of this service and we must meet them in an adversarial environment over a complaint or lawsuit.
The Council has an excellent curriculum developed for training programs with materials, tests and certifications. Council staff person, Jan Chadwick is the only person certified as Fair Lending Trainer by the National Fair Housing Alliance. In addition, this year Council Executive Director Jim Berry and Assistant Director Jan Chadwick were approved by the State of Pennsylvania as Fair Housing Trainers for the Realtors mandatory continuing education program and we are anxiously awaiting similar approval from the State of Delaware. This fall a 3-hour training session was taught to more than 100 Realtors. Many commented at the end that this was the “best fair housing presentation they had ever heard.” The Council hopes that this marks the beginning of a long relationship with the Tri-State Association of Realtors for fair housing training and cooperation and may pave the way for cooperation with other local real estate organizations.
