High Plains Fair Housing Center briefs Moorhead Human Rights Commission on discrimination, mediation and testing

Kelly Gores, a representative of the High Plains Fair Housing Center, told the Moorhead Human Rights Commission on April 15 that fair housing remains a civil-rights issue and described the center’s services for residents in the region.

Gores, introduced by the commission chair as the guest speaker for Fair Housing Month, said High Plains is a private nonprofit based in Grand Forks that serves North Dakota and South Dakota and provides referrals and assistance to Moorhead residents who call for help. “Fair housing is a civil right,” Gores said. “It is a law, and it is the right of everybody, federally, to obtain housing of your choice free from illegal discrimination.”

She reviewed the historical development of protected classes under the Fair Housing Act and related developments in state law, noting expansions that added sex, familial status and disability protections and stressing that modern forms of discrimination can be subtle. “You don’t see that anymore, because of the Fair Housing Act, but you do see more subtle discrimination,” Gores said, describing tactics such as steering and unequal screening standards.

Gores summarized the center’s programs: an intake and referral line, mediation between tenants and housing providers, enforcement investigations that include tester operations, and education and outreach. She described testers as a kind of secret-shopper method used to detect differential treatment and said testing supports both individual complaints and pattern-or-practice investigations.

Gores shared 2025 activity numbers: nearly 1,000 intake calls, more than 200 resolutions and 12 formal complaints filed; the center also conducted about 100 discrimination tests and delivered almost 100 trainings that reached more than 3,000 people. “That mediation piece is really useful,” she said, noting that mediation produces most client resolutions without formal complaints.

During a question-and-answer period, commissioners asked about reasonable accommodations for people with cognitive or mental disabilities, eviction-prevention partnerships, and the frequency with which testing finds illegal discrimination. Gores said High Plains can assist people through the accommodation process, mediate communication methods and work with Legal Services partners on eviction prevention; she declined to provide a single statistic for how often testers confirm illegal discrimination, saying outcomes depend on facts and context.

Gores encouraged commission members to act as awareness amplifiers, policy reviewers and referral partners and pointed to brochures and web resources for community leaders. She invited commissioners to refer constituents to High Plains’ intake line for help or more information.