Numbers at a Glance
Between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California (FHANC) provided counseling or education to 3,756 tenants, homeowners, home buyers, housing providers, children, social service providers and advocates across Marin, Sonoma and Solano counties and beyond. Of these clients who received counseling services, 89% are extremely low-, very low-, or low-income. The Latinx community (14% of whom speak primarily Spanish) make up 22% of FHANC clients, and 31% are Black/African American. At least 126 clients or community members received their counseling or education services in Spanish. During the fiscal year ended June 30, the organization provided counseling related to housing discrimination, foreclosure prevention or first-
time home buying to 1,774 clients. Approximately $113,500 in monetary awards or attorney fees were collected on behalf of clients or FHANC to compensate for discriminatory acts committed by housing providers. As many as 1,982 housing providers, advocates, government staff, service providers and community members were trained through fair housing, pre- purchase and foreclosure prevention workshops and presentations. Requests for reasonable accommodations in housing were granted to 87% of clients, and 66 clients were assisted in successfully accessing accommodations or modification from landlords to accommodate their disabilities or remain housed. — JSD
and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute. HUD oversees the Section 8 programs. A recent case settled by FHANC involved a Black woman named Jasmine who was attempting to find housing under Section 8. “She had waited 11 years to get off the wait list for a Section 8 voucher and was so excited to be looking at apartments in Sonoma County. But a landlord was violating the law by discriminating against her. She was homeless and living in her car, and very scared,” says Howard-Gibbon. “Jasmine felt the denial was related to her race, so we got involved and yet she was still denied. We settled on $37,000, and that money went directly to her. She ended up finding housing in Hayward.” In some cases, settlement funds go directly to the agency’s client, such as in Jasmine’s situation, and if a lawsuit is involved the other side pays the attorney fees. Failing to rent to people with Section 8 housing vouchers violates the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. In a testing investigation conducted by FHANC in 2021, publicity around the results of the investigation helped to educate the community about the California law that went into effect in January 2020 making it illegal to discriminate against renters with housing vouchers. “It’s important that landlords do not make the decision to [not] rent to an entire group of people because they had a couple of bad experiences,” stated Peattie about the discrimination against Section 8 voucher holders.
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