Conferences & Symposia

The Fair Housing Act at 45: Actualizing the Duty to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the landmark civil rights legislation signed into law on April 11, 1968, that prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing.

Friday, April 12, 2013

8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

University of Maryland Carey School of Law
500 W. Baltimore St.
Baltimore, MD 21201

The Fair Housing Initiative at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law is marking this important anniversary by bringing together professionals in the Baltimore region’s fair housing community to examine recent legal and programmatic developments in achieving the Fair Housing Act’s purposes and to examine extent barriers to integration.

Conference presenters will discuss implementation and enforcement of the legal duty to affirmatively further fair housing; recent legal developments in litigation around the country, in federal regulatory reforms, and HUD enforcement trends; state and local legislative issues; and emerging policies or programs that promote fair housing, including implementation of the Thompson consent decree, and HUD’s Sustainable Communities Initiative program.

The conference, which is funded in part by a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is free of charge and open to any individual or agency with an interest in fair housing.

AGENDA

8:30 - 9:00 a.m.   Continental Breakfast (Atrium)

9:00 - 9:30 a.m. (Ceremonial Court Room)

• Welcome: Dean Phoebe Haddon, UM Carey Law
• Introduction: Professor Barbara Bezdek, UM Carey Law
• Opening Remarks: Carol Bryant Payne, HUD Field Office Director, and Debra McGhee, Director, HUD Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Center, Baltimore

9:30 - 11:00 a.m.  Panel 1: The FHA Requirements to "Affirmatively Further Fair Housing" (Ceremonial Court Room)

• Melody Taylor-Blancher, U.S. HUD, Region III Fair Housing | Presentation
• Stella Adams, National Fair Housing Training Academy
• Michael Mitchell, National Community Reinvestment Coalition | Presentation
• David Zisser, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law | Presentation

11:00 - 11:15 a.m. BREAK

11:15 - 12:30 p.m.  Panel 2: Current Legal Developments in Fair Housing Law (Moderator: Professor Michael Pappas, UM Carey Law) (Ceremonial Court Room)

• Joe Rich, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law
• Philip Tegeler, Poverty and Race Research Action Council | Presentation
• Trudy McFall, Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition
• Antonia Fasanelli, Homeless Persons Representation Project

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. LUNCH (Westminster Hall)

Featured Speaker: David Rusk | Presentation
Mr. Rusk is a noted urban policy consultant in the U.S. and abroad, and renowned author of Baltimore Unbound and Cities without Suburbs.

1:45 - 3:15 p.m.  CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Furthering Fair Housing in the Region: Regional Cooperation in Fair Housing (Moderator: Sheilah Kast, WYPR-FM) (Ceremonial Court Room)

• Jason Sartori, National Center for Smart Growth | Presentation
• Peter Engel, Baltimore Housing
• Barbara Samuels, ACLU-MarylandI | Presentation
• Dan Pontious, Baltimore Metropolitan CouncilI | Presentation

Fair Housing Nuts & Bolts: Fair Housing Enforcement (Room 108)

• Glendora Hughes, Maryland Commission on Civil Rights | Presentaiton
• Rob Strupp, Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc.
• Stella Adams, National Fair Housing Training Academy
• Michael Mitchell, National Community Reinvestment Coalition
• David Prater, Maryland Disability Law Center

3:15 - 3:30 p.m. BREAK

3:30 - 5:00 p.m.  CONCURRENT SESSIONS

Furthering Fair Housing in the Region: Fostering Sustainably Inclusive Communities
(Moderator: Carol Payne, U.S. HUD, Baltimore Field Office) (Ceremonial Court Room)

• Salin Geevarghese, U.S. HUD Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities | Presentation Pt. 1 - Pt. 2
• Michael Kelly, Baltimore Metropolitan Council
• Megan Haberle, Poverty and Race Research Action Council
• Lauren Young, Maryland Disability Law Center

Fair Housing Nuts & Bolts: Fair Housing and Assistance Animals
(Moderator: Debra McGhee, HUD Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Center, Baltimore) (Room 108)

• Glendora Hughes, Maryland Commission on Civil Rights 
• Gary C. Norman Esq., Commissioner, Maryland Commission on Civil Rights
• Stuart Sagal, Esq., Sagal, Cassin, Filbert & Quasney