Enforcement

The housing rights we protect are fragile and precious. We must continue the struggle to keep alive the American freedoms of hope and home. Professor Okainer Dark, an African-American attorney and professor of law, who experienced personally the abuse of housing discrimination, explains in my interview with her, why these freedoms are worth the struggle,

"Don't think that discrimination is just a little thing that you can get over. No one gets over it. It is an act of violence against the dignity of the individual. Every time an individual is harmed by housing discrimination, so is the fabric of our society. One more insult that this society has to somehow absorb, because another member has been cut off, or in some way damaged in this society. All of us hurt. Discrimination is not a little matter. It's not just something that happens and you get over it. Or it's not just something that happens and happens and you get used to it after awhile. Who should get used to being degraded? Who should ever have to get used to that?"

This is why HOPE enforces the fair housing laws. As Professor Dark states so eloquently, housing discrimination "is an act of violence against the dignity of the individual." HOPE will use all the resources at its disposal, education, testing and investigations, mediation, the filing of HUD complaints, and litigation, to protect those who have been harmed by discrimination.

If you need HOPE's assistance, Contact Us or call 630-690-6500.