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Director reports HUD logo removal, caseload figures and planned code updates
Summary
The commission's director told commissioners at the Sept. 8 monthly meeting that HUD has asked local fair-housing entities to stop using the HUD logo because HUD lacks staff capacity to review materials, and staff removed or privatized some materials as a result.
The commission's director told commissioners at the Sept. 8 monthly meeting that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has asked local fair-housing entities to stop using the HUD logo on materials because HUD does not have staff capacity to review and approve such use.
"Because they don't have sufficient staff to do that, they are asking that everyone discontinue using the HUD logo on their materials because they don't want the appearance that things that we are putting out there are we're speaking on behalf of HUD," the director said. As a result, staff said the office removed HUD-marked posters and made several conference videos private while they edit or remove HUD references.
The director also summarized enforcement caseload and case-processing work. The office has 52 open investigations and 66 pending intakes, the director said. There are five cases in court (four housing cases and one appeal from a public hearing), the director said, and two cases on the public-hearing track. For the year to date the office completed 65 employment cases and 19 intake-only matters; staff reported completing 21 housing-case resolutions and paying 20 of those, while 13 completions were required under contract.
"We're also making significant headway on settlement monitoring," the director said, noting improved tracking tools and a list of five settlements slated for the October agenda. The director thanked mediators and staff for closing older cases and completing intake work.
On outreach, the director reported partnerships and programs that share fair-housing information countywide. Just Mediation in Pittsburgh distributed landlord-tenant fair-housing materials to about 155 people through mediation sessions, the director said, and the program reports a 95 percent success rate for helping tenants remain housed. Staff also reported ongoing advertising such as bus ads and billboards, and planned advertising in community outlets.
The director said updates to the office’s rules and regulations are nearly ready for commissioner review and that solicitors have provided feedback. The director also described proposed edits to the civil-rights portion of city code to explicitly preserve the agency’s ability to pursue disparate-impact cases, to add definitions for protected status and protected activity, and to allow filing on commercial-property discrimination locally (the director noted commercial-property protections also exist under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act).
Staff said some statutory and interagency questions remain and that final solicitor and law-department review are pending before items are introduced to council.
Procedural business at the meeting included a motion to approve the meeting minutes, which was moved and seconded and approved by voice vote. The meeting adjourned after the director's report and a brief new-business discussion.
