Fair Housing Summit aims to educate public

The First Annual Fair Housing Summit, themed “Improving Communities by Opening Doors and Neighborhoods,” was held Friday, September 28 in the Smith-Brown Memorial Union.
The event, which consisted of various workshops and sessions, lasted from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. and entailed four major focuses: Rental sales, home ownership, lending and sales.
“I felt that this was an excellent start and that we had a good number of participants. I believe that it has been a wonderful venue for education for our community…” stated Representative Sharon Weston Broome – District 29, who served as a workshop moderator. Weston -Broome filed an anti-predatory lending bill, which was killed in the senate, this past legislative session.
The summit also covered issues such as citizens’ rights under the Fair Housing Act, predatory lending, discriminatory acts against property owners and other forms of housing issues and discriminatory acts. The summit was focused to tackle the “basic fundamental protection against housing discrimination, regarding age, sex, race, and other factors,” stated Ronnie Edwards, Executive Director of Urban Restoration Enhancement Corporation (UREC). There was also a desire to “bring out all non-profit organizations and initiate an affiliation with Housing Development,” said Cheryl Brown, Representative of Louisiana State Office of Housing and Urban Development.
“As a result of the legislation and community development corporations, we are educating the public about predatory practices…. and hopefully we will begin to help minimize victims of predatory lending,” said Rep. Weston-Broome. Predatory lending is a practice of some corporations in which they raise interest rates and set clients up for financial failure. Predatory lending practices was a major topic of the summit.
“I see a lot of people who are homeless and can’t afford rent so it is a good way to educate myself on housing issues and get a better understanding,” stated Brianne McKeown, a case worker of Catholic Community Services Baton Rouge Branch and participant in this year’s summit.
“The organization and community did an excellent job in pulling this all together in a short period of time. Next year, we want to improve on our public relations…. It is my desire that one day, here in the City of Baton Rouge, we will have a Fair Housing Action Center of address those [housing] issues like they have in New Orleans,” stated Rep. Weston- Broome.
The official host committee consisted of representatives from the City of Baton Rouge, The Mayor’s Office, Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, Inc., Office of Community Development, Urban Restoration Enhancement Corporations, and Housing and Urban Development. The Office of Community Development, Hibernia, Bank One, and Fannie Mae served as co-sponsors and underwrites.