Friday, September 30, 2005
By KEVIN COURTNEY
Register Staff Writer
NAPA VALLEY REGISTER
After two years of finding its way, Fair Housing Napa Valley is beginning an ambitious campaign to educate the community about anti-discrimination laws and prepare cases for enforcement.
The non-profit agency, known until now as Greater Napa Fair Housing Center, has beefed up staffing, adding an experienced fair housing investigator and a bilingual outreach worker.
For the first time, the agency has the staffing and expertise to vigorously investigate violations of state and federal fair housing laws, which bar discrimination against various classes of renters and homebuyers, said Kathryn Winter, a former county supervisor who is now the agency's executive director.
The agency will conduct 36 seminars throughout the county this year to educate the public and housing providers on laws against housing discrimination, Winter said.
On the enforcement side, the agency will send out teams of testers to learn if landlords and others in the real estate industry are discriminating against racial and ethnic minorities, families with children, the elderly and others, Winter said.
"It's like a secret shopper," Winter said. A white couple and a Hispanic couple might answer an apartment ad to learn if there is disparate treatment, she said.
If one couple is quoted a higher rent or higher security deposit, that could violate the law, said Stephen Cogswell, the new fair housing director.
The agency also looks into complaints of unsafe rentals that violate health and safety codes. "There are some notorious landlords in this community," Winter said. "We're in the process of investigating several places where conditions are less than good."
Fair Housing Napa Valley continues to be a resource center for helping landlords and tenants resolve disputes, she said.
The agency was created two years ago after the city of Napa withdrew its support of the Napa County Rental Information and Mediation Service, which had been in operation 17 years. The city said the agency appeared to be landlord oriented and wasn't doing enough to enforce anti-discrimination laws.
Fair Housing Napa Valley got off to a slow start. Its first executive director resigned after less than a year on the job. Winter, who was hired last spring, had to educate herself about housing issues.
Using grants from the Napa Valley Wine Auction and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency recently hired Cogswell, who formerly worked for a housing agency in Oakland, and Alejandro Oyarzabal, who will do Upvalley Hispanic outreach.
With grants from the city and county, the federal government and the Wine Auction, the agency now has a budget of $226,000. The staff, which numbered one and a half persons a year ago, is now three and a half, Winter said.
Fair Housing Napa Valley investigates complaints, tries to mediate resolutions and, as necessary, builds cases that HUD, the state or private attorneys will pursue in court, Winter said.
The agency will be working with city code enforcement, the county's Environmental Management Department and the District Attorney's office, she said.
"I hope we ruffle the feathers of people who are not being responsible citizens," said Judy Feiner, president of the agency's board of directors. "The rest of Napa will stand with pride that we are a community that follows fair housing."
When HUD surveyed housing practices nationwide several years ago, 25 percent of interactions involved discrimination, said Cogswell. A Latino or African-American who looks at four apartments or inquires about buying four houses can expect to be discriminated against at least once, he said.
There is no data for housing discrimination in the Napa Valley, Cogswell said.
Much discrimination occurs out of ignorance of the law, Winters said. People rent to others who the feel "comfortable with," which can mean excluding entire classes of people, she said.
Fair housing laws do not apply to owner-occupied properties where only one unit is rented or a person renting part of their home.
The first fair housing seminar for property owners, managers and real estate professionals will be Tuesday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at First American Title, 2390 Lincoln Ave. The cost is $65. To register, call Fair Housing Napa Valley at 224-9720.