Oct 17, 2014 1 min read

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday awarded $450,000 to Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services Inc. for education and outreach under the Fair Housing Act.

The agency, based in Washington, said the goal is to make people aware of illegal acts affecting themselves or others in their community because of their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability, and the rights available to them.

Twenty-four Pennsylvania counties within Appalachia will be targeted. SPLS will use its grant to develop and implement a training curriculum providing community education and outreach to further the goal of fair housing among providers, local governments and potential victims of housing discrimination.

Activities will include identifying efforts to redress impediments to fair housing and making suggestions to meet goals set by HUD; preparing and conducting community education events; and maintaining a protocol to refer discrimination complaints to HUD and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services is receiving one of nine grants in the mid-Atlantic region to enforce the Fair Housing Act through investigations and tests of alleged discriminatory practices.

In the mid-Atlantic region, 413 fair housing discrimination complaints were filed with HUD and its partners during the 2014 fiscal year.