Fair Housing Center of West Michigan

The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan is a private, non-profit fair housing organization committed to providing comprehensive fair housing services, including education, outreach, research, advocacy and enforcement. The Fair Housing Center is the front door to housing choice, ensuring that everyone in our community has equal opportunity to choose housing thats right for them. Through education, research and advocacy, we prevent housing discrimination, remove barriers that allow it to persist, and restore housing choice when discrimination happens.

Who We Serve

We work with tenants, homeowners, and home seekers as well as professionals, companies, and social service agencies related to housing. These include landlords, realtors, lending institutions, insurance agents, and more.

Our Service Area

We currently serve 12 counties in western Michigan: Allegan, Grand Traverse, Ionia, Isabella, Kent, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola and Ottawa.

Our Mission

Our mission is to prevent and eliminate illegal housing discrimination and to ensure equal housing opportunity. We achieve our objective through education, outreach, research, advocacy and enforcement.

Our Vision

Our vision is that each individual in West Michigan is treated with respect in their housing choices and is not illegally hindered or prevented from living in any dwelling. We are a visible, leading force for ensuring those rights.

Our History

From its beginning, the Fair Housing Center has been concerned with education and outreach as well as enforcement of the federal, state and local laws. The story of the Centers origin is rather unique. Like most metropolitan areas in the 1970s, Grand Rapids experienced a tremendous amount of white flight to the suburbs. As a result, the racial and ethnic composition of many neighborhoods and subsequently, the schools changed. The Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) recognized the need to integrate their schools. When deciding on a strategy, they concluded that instead of using busing to accomplish this end which was being tried without much success in other communities, the GRPS would focus on integrating the neighborhoods thereby integrating the schools.

A committee was formed with representatives from GRPS, Grand Rapids Junior College, Southeast End Neighborhood Association, and the Cities of Grand Rapids and Kentwood. In 1979, the group visited the Fair Housing Center in Detroit. They met with the Board, Executive Director and staff, borrowed and adapted their by-laws and method of operations and began work to set up a similar center in Grand Rapids. Using $1,500 seed money from the DyerIves Foundation, the Fair Housing Center of Greater Grand Rapids, was incorporated on September 4, 1980 to: support and encourage equal opportunities in the Greater Grand Rapids area. In this connection, the Center will provide assistance to individuals pursuing legal rights and remedies related to fair housing, offer housing assistance and counseling, provide community education, promote community involvement, perform research in the area of housing, and promote good working relations with other housing agencies. In its first year of existence, the Center conducted 130 tests at 105 locations and investigated 21 complaints from area homeseekers. In 2006, the Center merged with the Lakeshore Fair Housing Center in Holland, MI at their request. The Center changed its name to the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan to reflect its increased service area.

Making fair housing happen

The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan operates with the belief that simply enforcing the laws is not enough to make fair housing a reality for everyone in our community. We take a proactive, holistic approach to our mission and provide comprehensive fair housing services in order to ensure equal housing opportunity and fair housing throughout our community. This approach is unique and we are amongst the only fair housing centers in the country to provide a mix of education, research, and advocacy. Each year we serve over 6,000 individuals through our education and outreach efforts, investigate over 100 cases of housing discrimination, and assist over 100 individuals in the resolution of fair housing complaints. We are sincerely committed to preventing housing discrimination in the first place, and we believe everyone -especially real estate agents, lenders, insurance agents, and landlords- can play a role.

Our Approach

Education

Preventing discrimination and promoting an open door to our community

• Building awareness of and support for fair housing in the general community
• Training landlords, realtors, and others on fair housing practices
• Connecting with community agencies so they apply fair housing to their work

Educational services include: providing fair housing trainings, events, workshops, book clubs, keynote and panel presentations; expert advice and best practices information and guides; fair housing brochure and material development; etc.

Research

Monitoring the state of fair housing and identifying barriers to housing choice

• Tracking allegations of housing discrimination
• Surveying property marketing and other housing practices
• Testing the housing market with volunteer consumers for potential discrimination

Research services include: completing Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing (AI) studies, compliance and audit testing, special projects and reports, etc.

Advocacy

Investigating discrimination and protecting housing choice

• Assisting individuals as they report housing discrimination
• Mediating alleged discrimination on behalf of individuals
• Resolving alleged discrimination so individuals regain housing choice

Advocacy services include: fair housing complaint intake, investigation, and resolution; assisting individuals with reasonable accommodation and modification requests; casework and advocacy on behalf of victims of illegal housing discrimination; etc.