FHCCI News and Updates – 2020

December 1, 2020 – Landlord accused of soliciting sex for rent agrees to $45,900 settlement: A landlord accused of soliciting sex in exchange for rent agreed to a $45,900 settlement in the sexual harassment case against him, the plaintiff’s legal team announced Monday. Henry Long, who owns and manages multiple rental properties in Indianapolis, also agreed to eliminate contact with all current and potential tenants, and attend annual fair housing training sessions. Full story here.

November 30, 2020 – FHCCI and Indianapolis Resident Reach Settlement with Landlord Accused of Sexual Harassment: Today, the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) and an Indianapolis resident announce a settlement in a federal Fair Housing Act lawsuit against Henry Long, owner and landlord of several Indianapolis rental dwellings. As part of the consent decree, Mr. Long will pay $45,900 in monetary relief to resolve the lawsuit which alleged he sexually harassed a female tenant. Read the full press release here. Download the consent decree here.

October 26, 2020 – Fair Housing Center Announces Election of Officers and Board Members: Today, the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI), a nonprofit working to advance fair housing laws, is pleased to announce its election of new officers and members to its governing Board of Directors. The elected officers are President – Tom Crishon; Vice President – Mandla Moyo; Secretary – Kim Opsahl; and Treasurer – Chase Haller. The FHCCI also announces the election of Emily Munson as its first Director Emeritus. Directors Emeritus are selected from those who have served the FHCCI with distinction and excellence. Ms. Munson was a founding member of the FHCCI in 2011 and had served in various officer positions. Read the full release here.

October 16, 2020 – Study finds inequities in lending in majority-Black neighborhoods: Residents living in majority-Black neighborhoods in Marion County have a harder time obtaining home loans than those living in other neighborhoods, a recent analysis by the Indiana University Public Policy Institute found. Although redlining—discrimination in banking and lending based on someone’s race or where they live—has been illegal since the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968, analysts for the institute found that inequities in home-loan lending still exist. Read the full story here.

September 29, 2020 – Evictions Damage Public Health. The CDC Aims To Curb Them ― For Now: As many as 40 million Americans faced a looming eviction risk in August, according to a report authored by 10 national housing and eviction experts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited that estimate in early September when it ordered an unprecedented, nationwide eviction moratorium through the end of 2020. Read the full story here.

September 25, 2020 – First Merchants makes big moves after lending-bias settlements: First Merchants Bank has begun constructing a $2 million branch that’s expected to open in the mostly Black Avondale Meadows neighborhood in late November—the most visible sign yet of sweeping changes at the Muncie-based financial institution after it settled redlining investigations last year. The bank in the summer of 2019 pledged to invest millions to resolve inquiries by the U.S. Justice Department and Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana. Read the full story here.

September 14, 2020 – Fair Housing Groups Reach Settlement Expanding Housing Opportunities for Families with Children: Today, the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI), the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan (FHCWM), the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina, and the Lexington Fair Housing Council announce a conciliation agreement with Pierce Education Properties to expand fair housing opportunities for families with children. Pierce Education Properties manages a portfolio of 27 student housing complexes, encompassing approximately 5,715 individual units across 18 states. The agreement will open up access for families with children to over 12,830 rentable bedroom units. Read the full release here. Settlement Agreement here.

September 4, 2020 – Indianapolis needs to take civil rights more seriously: Black Indianapolis, like most other large Black populations, faces the prospect of microaggressions, discriminatory action and even outright abuse each day by a variety of institutions including at work, neighborhoods, schools, financial institutions, social service agencies and other public places. In fact, when Black people show up in economics it’s usually in the form of discrimination in markets, be it labor force, housing, access to capital, etc. Read more here.

August 28, 2020 – Housing Advocates Say Eviction Waves Will Spread COVID-19: When the COVID shutdown hit, lots of people lost jobs and couldn’t pay their rent. States and cities responded by putting a moratorium on evictions, but those are ending. Housing advocates are now bracing for a flood of evictions — and a public health problem. Full story here.

August 20, 2020 – Indiana’s Eviction Moratorium Is Over. Now What? Indiana’s moratorium on evictions ended last week, and many are worried the ongoing pandemic will cause a wave of evictions across the state. Evictions are often a catastrophic event in someone’s life, and can have wide-ranging consequences in the communities where they happen. Listen to the WFYI show here.

August 19, 2020 – Hundreds of Hoosiers already served with eviction notices after moratorium expires: A survey of small claims court cases in just Marion County found nearly 600 filings this week. Read the full story here.

August 14, 2020 – Coalition Calls for COVID-19 Housing Stability Dashboard, Court Order for Renter Protections as Governor’s Eviction Moratorium Ends: With Indiana’s eviction moratorium ending on August 14, the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition is calling on Governor Holcomb to include a ‘COVID-19 Housing Stability Dashboard’ on the state’s coronavirus response website to track eviction and rental assistance data. The Coalition also urges the Indiana Supreme Court to strengthen protections for renters facing COVID-19 related evictions in court with an order to uniformly enact recommendations of the Court’s Landlord-Tenant Task Force. These recommendations would help inform the state’s housing stability policies, in the absence of an articulated plan, and in the face of new data finding that up to 720,000 Hoosiers are at risk of eviction without additional protections. Read the full release here.

August 14, 2020 – Registration open for Fort Wayne 2020 Virtual Housing Summit: Registration is now open for the virtual 2020 Fair Housing Summit: Exposing Housing Discrimination, which features Tim Wise, one of the nation’s most prominent anti-racist educators and authors. Learn more here.

July 22, 2020 – With maxed-out rent assistance, Indiana running out of time to prevent a tsunami of evictions as COVID-19 resurges: With nearly maxed-out rental assistance programs, Indiana is running out of time to prevent a tsunami of evictions starting August 1, even as COVID-19 resurges through the state. Self-inflicted funding limits and a lack of statewide coordination between state and city rent assistance programs have set Indiana further back on the timeline needed to advance to higher stages of housing stability. In response, the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition (HHNC) proposes a yardstick to measure the steps necessary to ensure COVID-19 housing stability. Read more here.

July 14, 2020 – IHA seeks to restart Section 8 voucher program after COVID-19: A program that helps people afford low income housing is slowly restarting after it was sidelined by the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last summer there were some four thousand people on a waiting list at the Indianapolis Housing Agency to apply for Section 8 vouchers so they could move into affordable low income housing. Many of those people had been waiting for years, and for a while this spring, it looked like for some of those folks there was light at the end of the tunnel, but the coronavirus pandemic and federal funding cutbacks put those hopes on hold. Read more here.

July 1, 2020 – Can We Prevent A Housing Crisis? A statewide moratorium on evictions has been extended through July due to the pandemic. For some, that’s still not enough time to catch up on past payments. And with expanded federal unemployment benefits set to expire at the same time, some say we’re headed for a so-called “eviction cliff.” Listen to the broadcast here.

June 30, 2020 – HUD Awards Over $40 Million to Fight Housing Discrimination: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $40.8 million to support dozens of fair housing organizations working to help end housing discrimination (see grant chart below for full list of recipients). These funds are provided through the Department’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) both to help people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination and to educate housing providers about fair housing laws. Read full press release here.

June 26, 2020 – Housing instability could upend state’s economy: Housing advocates are warning of a tidal wave of evictions in the state this summer unless an effort is coordinated to head it off. All told, more than 250,000 Hoosier families will need help paying their rent this summer following pandemic-related stay-at-home orders that led to an economic collapse, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. A statewide moratorium on evictions and foreclosures has been extended through July, and housing advocates say policymakers should use that time to begin addressing housing instability beyond the moratorium’s expiration. Read more here.

June 26, 2020 – ‘It is imperative’: Indiana housing advocates urge help before evictions resume: Housing advocates are worried about renters like Shepherd who are facing housing insecurity and the possibility of eviction due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Indiana has been operating under an eviction moratorium since March 19. Concerned about a tsunami of evictions after the ban ends, nonprofits have been shoring up their resources and petitioning government officials for policy aimed at helping the neediest renter households. Read more here.

June 25, 2020 – First Merchants to enter underserved markets: First Merchants Bank will open five new branches or loan production offices in low- to moderate-income communities as part of a $1.4 billion community investment plan with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. The collaborative initiative that began with a needs assessment last September was finalized about a year after the bank’s Muncie-based holding company, First Merchants Corp., announced important measures to boost mortgage lending in majority-black neighborhoods of Marion County. The measures announced a year ago reflected a resolution of lending concern allegations raised against First Merchants by the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana. Read more here.

June 24, 2020 – Housing Coalition Applauds Creation of Indiana COVID-19 Rental Assistance Program and Extension of Eviction Pause Through July; Members Urge Governor to Create Rental Housing Task Force to Ensure Funds Reach Hardest Hit Hoosiers: The Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition commends Governor Eric Holcomb for heeding several of our recommendations to establish the ‘Indiana COVID-19 Rental Assistance Program’ and thanks him for announcing that he will extend his moratorium on residential evictions through July. The $25 million allocated by the state is estimated to serve 12,000 Hoosier renter households affected by the pandemic across 91 of the state’s 92 counties. Read the full release here.

June 10, 2020 – Housing Advocates Call For Rental Help Ahead Of ‘Eviction Cliff’: Indiana housing advocates say the Hoosier State faces a rental housing crisis with its eviction moratorium set to expire at the end of the month. Those advocates argue the state needs a detailed plan and an extension of the moratorium. They say many Hoosiers are still without help to pay their rent amid the COVID-19 crisis. Indiana 2-1-1 reports housing is now its top request for referrals and unmet needs. And new census data suggests black Hoosiers were three times more likely to be unable to pay May’s rent than white Hoosiers. Read more here.

June 10, 2020 – Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition – Indiana not making enough progress to avoid an eviction crisis when moratorium ends June 30: Today the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition is sounding the alarm that not enough progress has been made by state and federal policymakers for renters affected by COVID-19 to avoid falling off an ‘eviction cliff’ when Governor Holcomb’s moratorium ends June 30. Read the full release here.

May 21, 2020 – Groups try to ward off ‘tsunami’ of new evictions once moratorium ends: Those who work in housing advocacy say the current health and economic mess haven’t brought out any new issues in housing; the global pandemic and financial collapse are just worsening what was already there. Many in Indianapolis never had that stable of housing to begin with. “It’s not new,” said Leah Humphrey, who’s part of the group Homes for All Indy. “The pandemic is highlighting a lot of it. Black and brown people have always gone through housing discrepancy and discrimination.” Read more here.

May 14, 2020 – Her Landlord Asked To Spend The Night With Her After She Lost Her Job And Couldn’t Afford Rent: When Gail Savage’s landlord messaged asking her if she would “stay all night” with him, she assumed he’d texted the wrong number. “I was like, He probably meant to send that to his girlfriend,” Savage, 29, told BuzzFeed News. A single mom to 2-year-old son Salem, Savage lost her job working as a bartender at a popular Indianapolis cocktail bar and her gigs working as a burlesque performer when the state shutdown occurred on March 16. She’d let her landlord know and they’d been texting about how she was waiting for the federal stimulus check to arrive to pay her April rent, when he suddenly inquired if she could get a ride and “stay all night” with him. Full story here.

May 13, 2020 – Pro Bono Matters: Pandemic forces legal aid groups to think outside the box: Pro bono and legal aid efforts are not immune to the adjustments needed to serve clients in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Court closures and restrictions on in-person gatherings have forced legal services organizations such as Indiana Legal Services Inc. to get creative about how they can continue to engage volunteer attorneys and provide legal services to those in need. ILS is already starting to plan for the kinds of services it thinks will be most in demand once restrictions are lifted. Full story here.

May 4, 2020 – Housing Coalition Presents Policy Recommendations To Protect Renters: A newly formed group will lobby for stronger protection against eviction during the pandemic. The Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition says it doesn’t think the state has done enough to outline how it will protect people who may be at risk of being evicted. Read more here.

May 1, 2020 – New Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition Urges Action to Ensure Housing Stability Response to COVID-19: Rent is due May 1 across Indiana, but hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic won’t be able to pay, leaving them open to eviction and threatening their long-term housing stability. The newly-formed Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition is issuing policy recommendations to avoid a tsunami of evictions and homelessness in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more here.

April 29, 2020 – Helping Hoosiers facing housing discrimination and eviction during COVID-19: The FHCCI was featured as part of the Badassery Life blog series. Read the blog here.

April 29, 2020 – Leadership in Law Features FHCCI Board Member as “Up and Coming Lawyer”: Chase Haller has a servant’s heart, working hard on behalf of people who sometimes are facing extreme hardship and have nowhere else to turn. Haller works so hard, in fact, that when duty calls, he’s known to roll up his sleeves and help clean homes of low-income clients who need a hand. He was also recently called upon to be a servant leader, filling in for a few months as interim director of one of Indianapolis’ most vital legal services agencies. As he sees things, it’s all just part of the job — and the mission. Read the profile here.

April 27, 2020 – The History of Redlining in a Six-Minute Video: As part of a fair housing education campaign supported by a multi-year settlement agreement that Relman Colfax helped to negotiate with First Merchants Bank, the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) has released a thought-provoking short video titled History of Redlining—Indianapolis, IN. Read the blog here.

April 23, 2020 – People living in hotels, motels face lack of eviction protections during pandemic: Indiana’s temporary halt on evictions and foreclosures remains in place until at least early May, but the order has not protected people living in transitional housing like extended stay hotels. CBS4 has heard from people who are concerned that they will be kicked out of hotels and motels due to their job losses and inability to pay. Read more here.

April 22, 2020 – Advocacy groups worry for Indiana renters when eviction order is lifted in May: New data shows Americans are struggling to pay for rent during the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Multifamily Housing Council discovered nearly a third of 13.4 million U.S. renters didn’t pay their rent between April 1 and April 5. “I don’t think that honestly this should come as a surprise for anybody because we have had massive layoffs and furloughs,” said Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana Executive Director Amy Nelson. Read the story here.

April 22, 2020 – FHCCI Releases History of Redlining Video: As part of its Fair Housing Month 2020 activities, the FHCCI announces today a new video to educate the public on redlining and its impact still to this day. You may view the video on the FHCCI’s YouTube page or directly here.

April 21, 2020 – FHCCI Celebrates Fair Housing Month with Medical Partnership: Each year, April is celebrated around the country as Fair Housing Month to honor the original passage of the federal Fair Housing Act in April 1968. The federal Fair Housing protects people from discrimination across housing transactions due to their race, color, religion, national origin, gender, disability, and/or familial status. Despite several attempts to pass the law in the 1960s, the Act was finally signed into law on April 11, 1968 following the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968. This year, the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) is marking the occasion focusing on the correlation between housing discrimination and health. Read the full release here.

April 20, 2020 – FHCCI Releases 2019 Annual Report: As part of its Fair Housing Month activities, the FHCCI has released its 2019 Annual Report which summarizes the major accomplishments of the FHCCI in its 8th year of operations:

  • Served 865 clients recording 259 fair housing allegations.
  • Opened 70 new fair housing investigations.
  • Filed 4 enforcement actions to address housing discrimination.
  • Conducted 60 fair housing trainings for 2,002 persons.
  • Participated in 36 community exhibits directly reaching 2,391 persons.
  • Distributed over 27,000 fair housing publications.
  • Released 4 fair housing education videos.
  • Resolved 9 investigations/cases impacting over 12,828 housing units and opening up lending opportunities.

You can download the full report here or go to our Reports Page.

April 14, 2020 – Class Action to Proceed Against Predatory and Discriminatory Rent-to-Own Housing Program: On March 27, 2020, a federal court in Indiana certified a class in a lawsuit challenging reverse redlining and violations of consumer protection laws in a rent-to-own housing program operated by Rainbow Realty Group, its owner James Hotka, and associated entities. Because defendants failed to seek immediate review in the Seventh Circuit by April 10, the case will continue in the trial court as a class action. This is a major step toward obtaining redress for thousands of households harmed by a program that held out the promise of homeownership. Read more here.

April 8, 2020 – One Outcome of an Agreement with First Merchants Bank: Fair Housing Goes on the Road: In an agreement that the Relman Colfax firm negotiated last year between our client, the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI), and First Merchants Bank, the bank agreed to make a donation to support fair lending education and outreach efforts in Indianapolis. This week, some of the efforts supported by those funds rolled out into Indianapolis. Learn more here.

April 6, 2020 – FHCCI Releases Fair Housing Accessibility/Design & Construction Video: As part of its Fair Housing Month 2020 activities, the FHCCI announces today a new video to educate the public on fair housing law design and construction requirements for multi-family properties. You may view the video on the FHCCI’s YouTube page or directly here.

April 1, 2020 – Class Action Certified in Challenge to Predatory and Discriminatory Rent-To-Own Housing Program: On March 27, 2020, a federal court certified a class to address alleged reverse redlining and violations of consumer protection laws by Indianapolis based Rainbow Realty Group, its owner James Hotka, and associated entities. The plaintiffs allege defendants use the promise of homeownership to lure people into toxic “rent-to-own” contracts for dilapidated houses. The class goes back to 2009 and includes thousands of current and former Rainbow customers. The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Download the ruling and full press release here.

March 27, 2020 – Central Indiana housing non-profit gets $425K from U.S. HUD: More than $400,000 was awarded to an Indianapolis non-profit fair housing organization this week. The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana works to educate the public on fair housing laws so people can recognize and report problems and engages in enforcement to prevent discrimination in housing. Read full story here.

March 26, 2020 – Holcomb vetoes controversial landlord-tenant bill in wake of COVID-19 outbreak: Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed a controversial bill Wednesday that would limit what local communities can do to regulate landlord-tenant relationships.  The bill — Senate Enrolled Act 148 — would have revised how much decision-making power landlords have over their properties and was the subject of intense debate during the 2020 legislative session. Several cities, including Indianapolis, were pursuing measures to expand protections for renters as legislators developed the bill at the urging of groups like the Indiana Apartment Association. Read full story here.

March 25, 2020 – HUD Awards Nearly $40 Million to Fight Housing Discrimination – Grants to support and promote fair housing nationwide: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded nearly $40 million to fair housing organizations across the nation working to confront violations of the nation’s landmark Fair Housing Act and help end housing discrimination. Read a complete summary of the grants being awarded today. The grants are being awarded through the Department’s Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) to help people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination and to educate the public and housing providers on the nation’s fair housing laws. Read full press release here.

March 24, 2020 – ‘The crisis has just gotten even more critical’: Indianapolis residents fear eviction: And while Gov. Eric Holcomb last week temporarily suspended any evictions in Indiana, hundreds of advocates are urging him to move one step further. They want Holcomb to veto SEA 148, a bill recently passed in the legislature that would strip renter protections in Indianapolis, Bloomington and other cities. The impact could be sweeping. IndyStar spoke with a range of service workers who are already experiencing economic hardship: a child care provider who had to close her facility; a custodial worker whose income is stretched to help two adult children; a cafeteria cook with concerns for several friends who are not financially prepared for what’s coming. Read full story here.

March 19, 2020 – Governor Holcomb Issues Executive Order on Temporary Prohibition on Evictions and Foreclosures in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic: “No residential eviction proceedings or foreclosure actions may be initiated during the public health emergency. This does not relieve the individual of obligations to pay rent or mortgage payments.” Read the full order here.

March 18, 2020 – Housing advocates say legislation puts tenants at risk: Although the legislative session has ended, a Statehouse battle is continuing as opponents of a last-minute amendment that they assert will further disadvantage tenants and renters are lobbying the governor to issue a veto. Housing rights groups, religious organizations, a wealth of nonprofits who serve people in need and legal aid providers, along with municipalities across Indiana, are all part of an effort to stop Senate Bill 148, which now contains the controversial amendment. The opposition organized quickly and held a rally at the Statehouse in the closing days of the session to bring attention to their concerns. Read more here.

March 11, 2020 – ‘A major setback for renters’: Indiana lawmakers vote to strip tenants of new protections: A bill that would strip protections from Indianapolis renters passed both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly on Wednesday, handing a major defeat to Mayor Joe Hogsett and advocates who are grappling with how to fight back against predatory landlords and mountains of evictions in Indianapolis. The bill, passed primarily by Republicans who hold a super-majority in the Statehouse, came just a couple weeks after Hogsett, a Democrat, and the Indianapolis City-County Council began providing more power to renters. The bill now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb for his consideration. Read more here.

Related: Legislature passes controversial bill to block new Indy landlord-tenant rules

March 5, 2020 – Lawmakers continue fight over landlord-tenant legislation: Indiana lawmakers are continuing to fight over legislation that would prevent municipalities from regulating landlord-tenant relationships. The Indiana House on Monday voted 62-31 to approve Senate Bill 340, which largely addresses condemnation and property owner rights but also was amended to include a controversial provision to preempt local ordinances that deal with landlord-tenant rights. Read more here.

March 3, 2020 – State lawmakers putting up roadblocks for Indianapolis: The 2020 legislative session is nearly finished, but some lawmakers are using their final days in the Indiana Statehouse to disrupt local politics in Indianapolis. An amendment added to a bill concerning imminent domain would nullify parts of a package of proposals passed by the Indianapolis City-County Council that help protect renters. Read more here.

March 2, 2020 –  Nearly 300 Organizations and Individuals Urge No” Vote on SB 340: Today, the Indiana House is scheduled to vote on SB 340. A letter with signatures from nearly 300 organizations and individuals from around Indiana has been sent to the Speaker Brian Bosma and members of the Indiana House of Representatives voicing concern and urging a “No” vote on SB 340. This opposition is in light of the surprise last-minute amendment to the bill on February 24 that will have a significant negative impact on renters across the state.    Full Press Release    Sign On Letter

February 28, 2020 – Indiana lawmakers advancing landlord-friendly legislation have ties to real estate: IndyStar story providing background on SB 340.  Read the story here.

February 27, 2020 – Hogsett Signs Tenant’s Rights Ordinance: Housing renters in Indianapolis now have additional legal protection against unscrupulous landlords. But the city may run into problems as the Indiana General Assembly considers an amendment to a bill that prevents any city from instituting ordinances to oversee landlord-tenant relations without approval by the state legislature. Read more here.

February 26, 2020 – Protecting rights of tenants at center of Wednesday signing ceremony in Indy: Mayor Joe Hogsett and City-County Council President Vop Osili will join other community organizations in an ordinance signing ceremony Wednesday afternoon. “If we seriously want to address the root causes of violent crime, we must address issues like housing instability and evictions,” said Council President Vop Osili. Read more here.

February 26, 2020 – FHCCI Urges “No” Vote on SB 340: The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) urges a “No” vote on SB 340. On the last House Judiciary Committee hearing of the session, on an unrelated bill, in a short session that heard no tenant friendly bills, SB 340 was amended to dramatically take away the rights of Hoosier tenants in our state and reshapes how Indiana cities can effectively address housing problems within their borders. Read the full press release here.

February 25, 2020 – City leaders approve proposals to protect tenants’ rights: City-County councilors on Monday night approved proposals to protect tenants’ rights, but lawmakers could vote to amend a bill that could void both proposals. The State House Committee voted 8-3 to amend S.B. 340 Monday morning. City Proposal 40 will provide $250,000 to the Office of Public Health and Safety for free legal representation for eviction cases. Proposal 41 will require landlords to provide tenants’ notice of their rights and responsibilities before signing a lease. It also entails a free hotline for renters looking for advice and will punish landlords who retaliate against renters who file a complaint. Landlords can face a minimum $2,500 fine. Read more here.

February 5, 2020 – Tenants with eviction history still facing housing issues: Some renters in Indianapolis are having a hard time keeping a roof over their heads because of their housing history. For some families like the Jordan’s, their housing history caused them to be homeless for about two months, but they were never evicted. Read more here.

January 16, 2020 – Mayor Hogsett Wants to Allocate Thousands of Dollars to Protect Renters’ Rights: Mayor Joe Hogsett on Wednesday unveiled a new plan to help renters across the city. Together with Indiana Legal Services and the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, the city wants to allocate $250,000 in new funding to protect tenant rights. Read more here. Related stories:

January 15, 2020 – FHCCI Commends City of Indianapolis on New Housing Initiative: Today, the City of Indianapolis announced a new Tenant and Legal Assistance Initiative. The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) gives its full support to the City on this drastically needed housing effort. The FHCCI hears far too often from tenants who are experiencing significant habitability problems, who fear or have experienced retaliation for trying to address those problems, those do not have adequate representation in court, those who struggle to find affordable or accessible housing for their families, or experience the harmful impacts of discrimination. Read the full press release here.     Read the city press release here

January 10, 2020 – Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana Releases Its First Data Set On Indiana Complaints: WFYI’s Taylor Bennett spoke with Executive Director Amy Nelson about the new report — called The State of Fair Housing in Indiana — that complies data from the past 18 years. Listen to the audio here.

January 7, 2020 – FHCCI Releases Report on Indiana Fair Housing Complaints: The Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) opened in January 2012. Since that time, we have not had concrete data regarding fair housing complaint filing in our state. In 2019, the FHCCI sought this data from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). We publish this, The State of Fair Housing in Indiana Report, to share the government data, key demographics, and our analysis with the general public. Read the press release or download the full report here.

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