Housing and Urban Development to fund program to cut housing discrimination

NOV. 13, 2015 — The state affiliate of the Corporation for Community and Economic Development United, Inc., has received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help educate disabled Promise Zone residents deal with housing discrimination.

“We will do outreach and public education programs to raise awareness of the federal fair housing law that protects individuals,” said Patsy Gardner, executive director of the S.C. affiliate of the CCEDU.  “We will be targeting families with disabled members in the rural, socially-disadvantaged areas of the Promise Zone as it relates to housing discrimination.”

She said the outreach effort, which would start next year, would include discrimination related to the sale and rental of dwellings to disabled people as well as discriminatory advertising practices.

“People who have disabilities have been discriminated against,” she said.  “We’re looking forward to working with the citizens in the Promise Zone to help them understand their rights under the law.”

The HUD grant is the second received in recent weeks by the CCEDU.  Last month, it received $95,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to work through collaborative partnerships to develop and deliver crop insurance education and risk management training to beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers in South Carolina and Georgia.  The funding for the North Charleston-based organization is expected to benefit 130 farmers and ranchers in the Promise Zone.

The South Carolina Lowcountry Promise Zone, a project of the SouthernCarolina Alliance, seeks to catalyze efforts in Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties to boost the quality of life and revitalize rural communities. 

MEDIA CONTACT:  Andy Brack, 843.670.3996 or  brack@bettersouth.org