WASHINGTON–The Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a national campaign Wednesday designed to draw more attention to some of the most significant housing discrimination issues.
Vanita Gupta, acting assistant attorney general in the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, explained in a ceremony at HUD headquarters how DOJ and HUD are working together to root out both new and old forms of discrimination.
“It is important to ensure that the promises of the Fair Housing Act will continue to be fulfilled by seeking to increase integration, overcome historic patterns of segregation, reduce racial and ethnic concentration of poverty and reduce the disparities by race, color, religion, sex, national origin or disability,” said Gupta.
This month marks the 47th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, a landmark piece of legislation that helped people find homes without the obstacle of discrimination.
Bryan Greene, general deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at HUD, said that the department’s leaders are bringing the cases and investing the dollars to make all neighborhoods safe, livable and open to people of all backgrounds.
The media campaign includes a series of print and electronic ads that describe how people can take action under the Fair Housing Act against housing and lending discrimination.