{"id":15802,"date":"2025-04-24T19:43:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T19:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=15802"},"modified":"2025-04-24T19:43:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T19:43:34","slug":"celebrating-fair-housing-month-growing-wary-of-federal-disruptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/celebrating-fair-housing-month-growing-wary-of-federal-disruptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Fair Housing Month; Growing Wary of Federal Disruptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Fletcher Word<\/em>
\nThe Truth Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Members of organizations focused on ensuring that every person has the opportunity to have access to safe and affordable gathered last week at the Lagrange Branch Public Library to celebrate the 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act and April as Fair Housing Month.<\/p>\n

The speakers at the commemoration included Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, long known for her interest in preserving and strengthening the intent of the legislation; George Thomas, CEO and general counsel of the local Fair Housing Center; Fair Housing Board Member Tony Totty, president of the UAW Local 14 and Julie Embree, director of the Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board<\/p>\n

Thomas noted that the Fair Housing Act, enacted on April 11, 1968, prohibits sexual harassment, racial discrimination in both housing opportunities and in lending practices, along with enabling the disabled to have access to housing.<\/p>\n

However, Thomas also stated that such efforts are facing difficult times. There is a \u201chousing crisis as prices escalate\u201d and the new presidential administration \u2013 Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Department of Urban Housing (HUD) have already tried to cancel two government grants the local FHC had. Both have been re-established, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis government wants to cancel civil rights by rolling back funds,\u201d said Thomas. \u201cWe\u2019ve never seen anything like this before and these attempts to roll back civil rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Fair Housing Act of 1968, said Kaptur, was part of a civil rights act. \u201cBut they didn\u2019t put any money into the pot,\u201d she added, describing in essence the difficulties faced by those trying to enforce the act over the years.<\/p>\n

Kaptur unveiled a plan she believes could help strengthen the Toledo community\u2019s ability to live up to the spirit of the act. She called for \u201ca consortium of people\u201d working on similar housing issues to start with a small, but achievable goal.<\/p>\n

She believes that if groups and agencies such as the Fair Husing Center, NeighborWorks, Habitat for Humanity, the Lucas County Land Bank and, perhaps, even Metroparks could gather, along with the 12 City Council members, and form a plan to resurrect a limited number of houses, perhaps 12, spread around the various council districts, that could start a revolution in creating affordable housing in Toledo.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the well-intentioned people\u00a0 in one room, what can we do together,\u201d she suggested. \u201cWe are survivable, we have to have a different attitude in our region. Let\u2019s use common power and don\u2019t take no for an answer,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Totty spoke of the significance of the Fair Housing Act and what its impact has been over the decades since the 1968 enactment of the act. Fair Housing fights against the problems of people facing housing issues,\u201d said Totty. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 is a part of Dr. [ML] King\u2019s legacy \u2026 we need more money for Fair Housing \u2013 not less.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of disparity in our community,\u201d added Embree. \u201cOur nation and our community are facing a housing crisis. We need to solidify our services \u2026 we have to continue to advocate.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the press conference drew to a close, the speakers expressed interest in pursuing Kaptur\u2019s idea of bringing together representatives of agencies that deal with housing to find a common way forward to creating more housing opportunities in the Toledo area.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fletcher Word The Truth Editor Members of organizations focused on ensuring that every person has the opportunity to have access to safe and affordable gathered last week at the Lagrange Branch Public Library to celebrate the 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act and April as Fair Housing Month. The speakers at the commemoration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[290],"class_list":["post-15802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15805,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15802\/revisions\/15805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15802"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=15802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}