Pictured L. to R.: CLASI Housing Advocate Madinah Brown, CLASI Housing Unit Managing Attorney Sarah Rhine, HUD Regional Administrator Matthew Heckles, CLASI Advocacy Director John Whitelaw, HUD Wilmington Field Office Director Maria Bynum, and CLASI Housing Unit Senior Attorney Tony Sierzega.
FOR RELEASE: October 17, 2024
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Margaretta Kroeger, CLASI Communications Director, mkroeger@declasi.org
DOVER, DE — On Wednesday, October 16, 2024, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) Regional Administrator Matthew Heckles presented a $425,000 grant award to Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (“CLASI”) to fight housing discrimination and promote more inclusive communities in Delaware.
The HUD grant will support a range of fair housing enforcement activities by CLASI, a statewide non-profit civil legal aid organization with offices in Georgetown, Dover, and Wilmington.
These activities will include investigating alleged housing discrimination, conducting testing to uncover discrimination in rental and sales markets, filing complaints on behalf of people whose fair housing rights have been violated, and engaging in education and outreach to the public, housing providers, and government agencies about CLASI’s fair housing services and the rights and obligations outlined in the federal Fair Housing Act.
The Delaware funding award is part of a broader $32 million investment by HUD to support fair housing organizations nationwide through the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP).
“At CLASI, we see housing discrimination harming our most vulnerable community members, including people with disabilities and people in traditionally marginalized and underserved groups, making it harder for them to secure desperately needed housing,” said CLASI Housing Unit Managing Attorney Sarah Rhine. “We are very grateful to HUD for this generous grant, which will allow us to continue and expand our efforts to detect and fight housing discrimination across Delaware.”
“HUD is committed to strengthening fair housing protections and ensuring that our partner organizations have the resources they need to enforce the Fair Housing Act,” said HUD Regional Administrator Matthew Heckles. “We are excited to present CLASI with $425,000 in funding so it can continue its impact in Delaware by conducting testing for compliance with fair housing laws and assisting victims of housing discrimination.”
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing transactions—including buying, selling, renting, mortgage lending, and appraisals—on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), familial status, and disability.
HUD announced the grant award at the annual meeting of the Delaware Continuum of Care, a community-based collaborative of advocates and organizations that works to ensure a responsive, fair, and just approach to addressing homelessness, and strives to achieve housing for all. The meeting was hosted by Housing Alliance Delaware at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover.
HUD’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program provides funds to eligible organizations through competitive grants under several initiatives. The grant to CLASI was awarded under the Private Enforcement Initiative, which funds non-profit fair housing organizations to conduct testing and enforcement activities to prevent or eliminate discriminatory housing practices and inform individuals of their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act.
Delaware residents who believe they have experienced housing discrimination can contact the CLASI office in their county: New Castle County – (302) 575-0660; Kent County – (302) 674-8500; Sussex County – (302) 856-0038.
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About Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. and the Fair Housing Initiative Program
The mission of Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (“CLASI”) is to combat injustice through creative and persistent civil legal advocacy on behalf of vulnerable and underserved Delawareans. CLASI provides free legal help to people with disabilities, people age 60 or over, people with low incomes, and victims of crime and housing discrimination to help them obtain shelter, government benefits, educational services, medical services, orders of protection from abuse, legal immigration status, and other civil legal remedies. Learn more about CLASI at: https://www.declasi.org/
CLASI’s Housing Unit and Fair Housing Initiative Program strive to eradicate discrimination in housing transactions in the state of Delaware against individuals based on race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex, marital status, familial status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, which are classes protected under federal and state fair housing laws. The program assists people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination through advocacy and enforcement actions; engages in activities designed to encourage fair housing practices through education and outreach statewide; works to identify barriers to fair housing to counteract and eliminate discriminatory housing practices; and conducts testing for compliance with fair housing laws statewide. Learn more about CLASI’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program at: https://www.declasi.org/fair-housing/
