Dear Stakeholders of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR):
Fair housing is YOUR right!
Those of us who are involved in civil rights and social justice causes know the importance of housing. The location of a person's home can determine so many life outcomes that are often not consciously linked to an address. For example, at our Civil Rights Summit in June, we explored the many ways that housing conditions can directly impact health.
Accordingly, discrimination in housing has the ability to change the path of multiple generations of a family. That makes fair housing one of the most fundamental rights we can defend in the US.
Today, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and Michigan Department of Civil Rights are proud to announce a series of public hearings on housing discrimination over the next few months. Our first hearing is already scheduled for November 8, 2023, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School in Detroit.
If you have friends, family members or contacts who are concerned about housing in southeastern Michigan, please share the below linked flyer and encourage them to attend this event. Our Commission wants to hear real life stories about bias and discrimination in every aspect of housing, including buying a home, renting apartments, credit ratings, home loans, and appraisals. The Commission and MDCR will use these testimonies, along with advice and guidance from our organizational partners, to create a list of policy recommendations for the state.
Our efforts are designed to work in tandem with the MI Statewide Housing Plan, which includes among its goals:
- Using data to identify systemic inequities
- Advocating for policy change to remove barriers to housing access
- Increasing opportunities for resident input in the development process
Please join us on November 8 in Detroit, and look for other public forum announcements in the future!
John E. Johnson, Jr., J.D.
Executive Director
Michigan Department of Civil Rights
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