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D.C. Real Estate Classes
D.C. Fair Housing and Predatory Lending
For Real Estate Professionals
Thursday, July 9, 2009
5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
11 Dupont Circle, N.W.
Suite 450
Washington, D.C. 20036
Course fee is $65 per person.
Publications, Studies and Research
Please contact the ERC at 202.234.3062 to request publications in an accessible format.
Brochures
The Equal Rights Center
Ensuring Civil Rights are Your Rights
The Equal Rights Center
Civil Rights Testing Program
Have you been a victim of discrimination because you have a disability?
Have you been a victim of employment discrimination?
Have you been a victim of housing discrimination?
Have you been a victim of discrimination because you are an immigrant?
Have you been a victim of discrimination in public accommodations or government services?
Handbooks, Toolkits, and Miscellaneous
An Accessibility Self-Advocacy Toolkit
People with disabilities have the right to live in the community of their choice. Accessibility laws ensure that, either through structural changes to the building (generally, a “reasonable modification”) or changes in rules and policies (generally, a “reasonable accommodation”), people with disabilities have equal access and enjoyment of their home. This toolkit is specifically designed to help people with disabilities identify and address problems they encounter in housing.
Click here for a PDF copy of the toolkit
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"Know Your Rights" Immigrant Rights Handbook
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“Conozca Sus Derechos” Manual Sobre los Derechos del Inmigrante
Civil rights laws protect ALL people from illegal discrimination, regardless of their immigration status. Each individual has the right to pursue and exercise his or her civil rights by making complaints despite what his or her immigration status may be.
Click here for a PDF copy of the "Know Your Rights" Immigrant Rights Handbook in English
Click here for a PDF copy of the "Know Your Rights" Immigrant Rights Handbook in Spanish
When faced with discrimination, it is often difficult to figure out what steps you must take to resolve the issue. This toolkit is specifically designed to help people with disabilities identify and address problems they encounter when attempting to access any public place.
Click here for a PDF copy of the Public Accommodations Self-Advocacy Toolkit
Today, more than 55 million people in the United States have some form of disability — one-sixth of our total population. This huge segment of the population, which is frequently the target of illegal discrimination, will continue to increase dramatically in future years as our population ages. Federal, state and local laws prohibit discrimination based on physical or mental disability. These include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Fair Housing Act (as amended) (FHA), the Rehabilitation Act and a variety of state and local human rights acts.
Click here for a PDF copy of the one page flyer about the disability rights program.
Reports
2008 marked the 25th anniversary of the Equal Rights Center as a civil rights organization. The scope and expertise of the ERC's mission and work has changed greatly in the last 25 years, expanding and refocusing as civil rights laws have changed, and as the face of discrimination has changed as well. The ERC's Annual Report, released in 2008, details the ERC's journey to become a comprehensive civil rights organization, its latest activities in all its program areas, and its most recent audited financial information.
Click here for a PDF copy of the annual report
A report released by the Equal Rights Center shows a 15 percent discrimination rate against Housing Choice (Section 8) Voucher holders in Montgomery County, Maryland. Montgomery County is the most populous jurisdiction in Maryland, yet it is also one of the least affordable in terms of housing. Housing costs in Montgomery County have increased at a much faster rate than has household income in the County, leading to a lack of affordable housing in the area.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report
The Equal Rights Center released a new report in the hopes of steering the national debate on immigration away from inaccurate assumptions. The 24-page report publicizes clear, compelling facts that are not influenced by any political slant and focuses readers on widespread fallacies about immigration and provides thoroughly documented facts. Addressing issues ranging from the economic impact of immigrants, to criminality and healthcare, to immigrant rights and proposed solutions, this new report strives to avoid extremist views on both sides of the immigration debate and to provide concise and reliable information for use in that debate.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report
In 2006, after working with numerous domestic violence advocacy groups, the D.C. City Council and mayor approved cutting-edge legislation, the Protection From Discriminatory Eviction for Victims of Domestic Violence Amendment Act of 2006, prohibiting discrimination in housing against domestic violence victims. The legislation was designed to reduce discrimination in housing based on a person’s status as a domestic violence victim, and in doing so, prevent victims from being forced down a path toward homelessness.
This study demonstrates that one full year after implementation of the Act, much remains to be done to ensure that survivors of domestic violence are not illegally discriminated against when they seek housing merely because of the domestic abuse they have already suffered.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report
Click here for a PDF copy of the letter of support
Enacted in 2004, the D.C. Language Access Act requires certain D.C. government entities to provide translation services in any non-English language spoken by either 3 percent of the population served, or 500 individuals, whichever is less. The Act was passed to ensure that integral members of our community who speak little or no English would still be able to utilize essential government services. In January 2007, the ERC began a six-month long investigation, funded by the Public Welfare Foundation, evaluating the extent to which five D.C. government departments were in compliance with the Act. The ERC unfortunately found that the five departments were failing to provide appropriate translation services at horrendous rates.
In releasing this report, the ERC also collaborated with the D.C. Language Access Coalition, an alliance of 20 community-based organizations, to call upon the government to recognize these failure rates and to improve its compliance with the Language Access Act. The ERC and the Coalition brought forth a letter, signed by numerous leading advocacy groups, which presented ten recommendations for the government to adopt.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report
Click here for a PDF copy of the letter of support
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In Search of Decent Housing in the DC Metropolitan Area: The Affordable Housing Crisis for Section 8 Housing Vouchers, April 2005
The Housing Choice Voucher Program is a low-income housing program, which was designed to allow eligible, low-income families to use a rental voucher to move from high poverty to lower poverty neighborhoods. Under the program, the local public housing agency subsidizes rent for low-income households, allowing them to live in private housing units with a total monthly rent equal to or less than a federally established rate. Unfortunately, discrimination against housing voucher holders in the private market is all too common, and it illegally closes the doors to greater housing options for many families in DC. In response to numerous complaints, the ERC conducted an investigation of DC landlords to determine the extent of discrimination against voucher holders and to asses the kinds of responses a voucher holder might receive.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report
In 2003, the Equal Rights Center conducted a study analyzing the access that Spanish-speaking residents had to health care in Washington, D.C. The study found that those residents did not enjoy full access to government-subsidized health care insurance programs because of language barriers. The study was part of an effort to focus attention on the language barriers facing immigrants, as well as to raise awareness of the obligations that government agencies had to provide language access to many communities. At the time, Presidential Executive Order 13166 existed as the only law requiring government entities to provide services for customers with limited English skills, and it applied only to federal agencies. Since then, DC has enacted its own legislation, the Language Access Act, which applies to 25 local and federal government agencies in the District.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report
The District is plagued by blatant and widespread race discrimination by taxicab companies and their drivers. Each year, thousands of minority residents and visitors are unable to hail a taxicab in the District of Columbia because of the color of their skin or because they want to go to a predominantly African American neighborhood. In October 2003, the ERC conducted a report evaluating the scope of taxicab discrimination and found the results to be staggering. Among its recommendations, the report urges that expanded legal protections, more vigorous enforcement, and civil rights education need to be implemented to address this serious civil rights violation.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report