BALTIMORE, MD.  —  The Baltimore City Office of Civil Rights & Wage Enforcement (OCRWE) has received a Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) grant in the amount of $101,464.00 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The grant will help people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination and to educate the
public and housing providers on fair housing laws. The OCRWE grant comes under HUD/FHIP’s Education Outreach Initiatives (EOI) grants category and can be used solely for the purposes of educating the public and housing providers about their rights and responsibilities under the federal law or state and local fair housing laws that are substantially equivalent to the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

“I am extremely proud of the work being done by the Office of Civil Rights & Wage Enforcement on behalf of the residents of Baltimore,” said Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young. “My administration will always fight for fair and equal access to housing in Baltimore. This grant will give the OCRWE the ability and capacity to educate residents and housing providers on strategies to prevent housing discrimination.”

OCRWE Director Darnell E. Ingram, said “The grant could not have come at a better time in the history of the agency, or the city. With it, we will be able to execute an outreach and education campaign that will prevent housing discrimination. In addition, the funds will help us increase knowledge among housing providers about how to engage in practices that are fair and that encourage equal access to housing opportunities for all throughout the city.”

Current Fair Housing Laws in Baltimore City forbids discrimination, or any difference in treatment of a person because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression.

The award of the competitive grant is the result of work begun by OCRWE staff in November 2018 and is a part of a $15 million effort by HUD to support dozens of fair housing organizations working to confront violations of the nation’s landmark Fair Housing Act.