09.23.06
HUD identifies new ways to view housing discrimination
RISMEDIA, September 21, 2006—The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced an increase in calls coming into its toll-free fair housing complaint line, 800-669-9777, showing …more individuals are reporting housing discrimination to its Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO).About 13,000 calls a month come into the hotline, up 8% over previous months. The calls identify 64 recently created area codes in the hotline’s automated program, which refer callers to intake specialists at HUD’s regional offices based on area-code recognition.Kim Kendrick, HUD’s assistant secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity said “If we discover we are receiving more calls of discrimination from a particular city, we can step up our enforcement efforts in that area,” said Kendrick. “The system is allowing us to utilize our resources better.” Similarly, if HUD receives few complaints from some areas of the country, the Department can explore whether its education-and-outreach efforts in those communities are adequate. The system allows HUD also to monitor how the public responds to targeted initiatives.
For all calls coming into the discrimination hotline, HUD can track the city and state the call is coming from, as well as the time of day of the call and the duration of the call. This information helps hotline phone representatives to be more responsive to callers. In addition to calling HUD’s toll-free Fair Housing complaint number at 800-669-9777, individuals who believe they have experienced discrimination can also file a complaint by using HUD’s online form at www.hud.gov/fairhousing.