|
Year by Year History of
Housing Opportunities Made Equal |
|
1963-1974 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal volunteers
worked through the courts and the New York State Department of State
eliminating the most visible racial barriers in real estate sales. |
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| 1973 |
Directors established the Housing Assistance
Center to provide services to low income renters and buyers. |
| 1981 |
Discrimination in the Love Canal Relocation
Program ends when Housing Opportunities Made Equal files a complaint against
the State of New York and negotiates a conciliation agreement. |
| 1982 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal uses a
forgotten 61 year-old statute to win the first damages from a landlord who
discriminated against children. |
|
1983-1984 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal negotiates an
agreement with the publishers of 27 area newspapers to voluntarily eliminate
the use of discriminatory language in classified advertisements. At the
time, this was the largest such agreement in the nation. Today, the
Publishers Voluntary Agreement includes over 50 publications. |
|
1988-1991 |
As special consultant to Senator Moynihan,
Housing Opportunities Made Equal conducts analyses which result in reform of
the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority. |
| 1991 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal is named to a
HUD special advisory panel on Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority (BMHA)
formulating what the Buffalo News called, “a master plan for
desegregation” of the troubled housing authority. |
| 1992 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal publishes a
new edition of A Guide To Landlords’ Rights, a comprehensive manual
on landlord-tenants relations, on behalf of the Buffalo Housing Group. |
| 1993 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal wins a record
settlement in the "Code 2" case when it files a complaint against two
suburban landlords who were using an answering service to screen and steer
minority home seekers. |
| 1994 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal teams up with
the Greater Buffalo Association of Realtors to publish a joint brochure for
prospective buyers and sellers. We also publish “Choosing Good Tenants: A
Practical Guide for Landlords”. |
| 1995 |
In cooperation with the Buffalo Area
Metropolitan Ministries, Housing Opportunities Made Equal sponsors a Fair
Housing Sabbath which garnered the participation of over 25 congregations of
a dozen different faiths and denominations. Later that year, we received the
annual Public Service Award from the New York State Bar Association, for
"outstanding contributions to the administration of justice." |
| 1996 |
We persuade the NYS Division of Housing and
Community Development to address abuses at the Marine Drive Apartments, a
616-unit publicly assisted complex. Housing Opportunities Made Equal sets a
precedent in HOME v. the State Division of Human Rights,
establishing that fair housing organizations have independent standing under
the Human Rights Law. |
| 1997 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal files a class
action suit against the State of New York for its failure to protect the
rights of discrimination victims as provided by the State’s Human Rights
Law. |
| 1998 |
Following the settlement of the historic
Comer desegregation suit, Housing Opportunities Made Equal is selected
after a national search to operate the Greater Buffalo Community Housing
Center in participation with the Buffalo Federation of Neighborhood Centers
(BFNC). |
| 1999
|
Housing Opportunities Made Equal prevails in
its 1997 suit against the state when the Supreme Court rules that the NYS Division of Human Rights must process complaints within the timeframe
mandated by law. The ruling also puts an end to the state’s practice of
dismissing meritorious complaints for “administrative convenience”. Although
this decision was later reversed by an appellate panel, it contributed to
reforms at the State Division of Human Rights. |
| 2000 |
For the first time in its history HOME
provides counseling and information services to more than 5,000 clients. |
| 2001 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal expands the
services of the Greater Buffalo Community Housing Center (CHC) to assist a
broader segment of Section 8 participants at no additional cost to the
government. |
| 2002 |
Once again, Housing Opportunities Made Equal
breaks our yearly service record. |
| 2003 |
Housing Opportunities Made Equal celebrates 40
years!
Click here to read our 40th Anniversary project, "We
Were There." |
