Established 1959

Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc.

to hold its 2012 Annual Meeting on May 23rd

BNI will hold its 2012 Annual Meeting on May 23rd at the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, 4 University Parkway, Balti-more, Maryland.

The keynote speaker will be Melody Taylor Blancher, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Region-al Director. Ms. Blancher will address fair housing trends across the nation with a focus on Maryland.

BNI will also honor three individuals for their service to the organization: Chris Brown, Esq. of Brown Goldstein Levy will receive the first annual BNI Dickens Warfield Fair Housing Award. The BNI Elizabeth Shipley Volunteer Award will be given to Leslie Kornreich and Frank Hom for their translations of BNI infor-mational materials.

On April 26, 2012 in the case of Tracey

v. Solesky, the Maryland Court of Ap-peals ruled that pit bulls are “inherently dangerous.” Clarity of what defines a dog as a “pit bull” is still needed. This ruling has the potential to impact many tenan-cies in the state of Maryland by increas-ing a landlord’s liabil-ity if his or her tenant owns a pit bull. In that a landlord may be sued based on a ten-ants’ behavior, ten-ants may be forced to remove or euthanize their pets in order to keep their homes. The prospect of such liability leaves room for the possibility of tenants who own pit bulls to be asked to get rid of their pet or risk their leases not being renewed.

Landlords

If a landlord has a tenant with a pit bull there are legal options that may offer protection: A landlord can charge extra rent to a tenant who owns a pit bull, charge a pet deposit not to exceed the

equivalent of two month’s rent, allow pets, but exclude pit bulls, limit the num-ber of dogs a tenant may have, or take

immediate action if the tenant is suspected of violating the lease by having a pit bull.

Tenants

Tenants should know that owning a pit bull is not an automatic cause to have a lease terminated, or to be evicted. No matter the circumstances, a landlord is compelled by law to go through a court process to evict a tenant.

The Lease

All conditions governing ownership of pets should be clearly stated in the lease. For existing tenancies, the landlord can chose to alter the terms and conditions of the lease at the time of renewal. If noth-ing is included in the lease about the terms of pet ownership, then it is not a violation of the lease for the tenant to have a pit bull in their home.

In principle, Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. supports legislation that will make Maryland residents safe. Our organiza-tion does not have an opinion on the dangerousness or character of the pit bull breed. To learn the facts about this is-sue, it is important to investigate and research as much as possible.

Read the law here: http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?q=Tracey+v.+Solesky&hl=en&as_sdt=2,21&case=2310089339884864665&scilh=0

Also in this issue: Page

BNI Translation Project 2

Fair Housing Matters 2

Making Connections 2

Fair Housing Across the Nation 3

Dickens War ield Fair Housing Award 4

Tester Calendar 4

Customer Service Volunteers Needed 4

The Pit Bull

Much maligned and feared, Maryland

legislation addresses the pit bull issue.

Making Connections

“Foraslongasthereisresidentialsegregation,therewillbedefactosegregationineveryareaoflife.”Dr.MartinLutherKing,Jr.

Continued on page 4)

Housing discrimination is as relevant today as it has ever been. Unfortunately, race remains a key factor in the quality of goods and services such as housing, schools, employment, com-munity amenities and access to public trans-portation. For many, the issue of transporta-tion—where to or not to extend a particular bus route or to construct a metro rail station—has served as the linchpin by which housing discrimination remains prevalent throughout the country. Communities often protest ex-panding public transportation into neighbor-hoods to limit access for those deemed unde-sirable. Limiting access to any community by any group, organization or individual is a form of housing discrimination which inhibits integrated, diverse and culturally robust com-

munities.

Transportation has become the forgotten issue in the fair housing movement. Nevertheless it has a tremendous impact on the ability of af-firmatively furthering fair housing. There are many who advocate that Fair Housing law should encompass aspects of transportation, specifically its role in expanding or restraining the opportunities for citizens to live where they chose. An excellent example of the con-nection between transportation and fair hous-

ing can be found with the proposed Red Line.

In Baltimore City, one of the major develop-ment projects gaining headlines is the project-ed construction of the Red Line rail system. The Red Line project has supporters, but there are nearly as many who oppose the construc-tion of a new rail system because of what it would represent for their communities. The ongoing battle between public transportation expansion, and its possible retraction, high-lights the importance of considering how fair housing connects with Maryland’s future for residential, commercial and tourist develop-

ments.

An article prepared for the Transportation Eq-uity Network Conference in 2009 explained what happens when transportation’s influence on communities is not taken into considera-tion, “…spending on highways and roads in new suburbs and exurbs…has played a major role in hollowing out of our core cities and the destabilizing of our many older suburbs. As a result, we are left with deep pockets of debilitating poverty and many metropolitan

regions segregated by both class and race.”

Fair Housing Matters: BNI Complaint Protocol Credible data demonstrate that discrimi-nation in the rental or purchase of hous-ing remains one the nation’s most im-portant social justice issues. Rarely bla-tant, it often presents as subtle, neutral, and sometimes legal. BNI remains steadfast in its goal of ensuring that all Marylanders have fair housing choice-the ability to choose where they want to live without fear of discrimination. Un-der federal law, it is illegal to discrimi-nate based on race, color, sex, religion, disability, family status, and national origin. Maryland adds the following protected classes: marital status, sexual

orientation, and genetic information.

BNI recently reviewed and updated its intake protocols to assist residents who wish to make formal fair housing com-plaints. Along with basic demographic information, staff asks questions aimed at compiling the most comprehensive

complaint possible.

Once a complaint has been investigated, BNI offers several avenues for possible resolution: writing letters requesting disability accommodations or modifica-tions, forwarding complaints to the ap-propriate local and federal agencies, testing the target of the complaint, and identifying other resources for possible

resolution.

Any Maryland resident who suspects that they have been victimized by dis-criminatory housing practices should contact Lisa Kelly, Esq. at BNI (lkelly@bni-maryland.org). The com-plaint process is completely confiden-tial. Two of the best tools for ending discriminatory housing practices are reporting and investigating. Don’t be a victim! A formal complaint is the first step toward identifying and eradicating housing discrimination in our state.

A special thanks to Mr. Bernard Kleina — fair housing activist and social justice photographer — for allowing BNI to use his beautiful images for our 2012 Annual Meeting invitations. Thank you, Bernie. The BNI family wishes you well in all of your endeavors.

BNI Translation Project Underway

Frank Hom

the opportunity to provide translations. On May 23, 2012, Ms. Leslie Kornreich and Mr. Frank Hom will be honored for their work at BNI’s Annual Meeting. The BNI Board and staff extend heartfelt

and sincere thanks for their contributions.

The process of translating BNI informa-tional materials is not complete. There is much more to be done. The BNI staff invites anyone interested in assisting with translations to contact Dr. Kerry Ose at 410-243-4468.

For the past two years BNI has been working to translate its informational materials into Spanish. Despite sever-al challenges to the process, staff is pleased to announce that its Tenant Introduction Packet and Landlord In-troduction Packet are now available to

in Spanish and Mandarin.

Special thanks to Dr. Kerry Ose, BNI’s Volunteer Maryland Coordina-tor. Dr. Ose had the good fortune to enlist two volunteers who welcomed

Leslie Kornreich

U.S. Justice Department Files Suit

against Mortgage Bankers

New York-The U.S. Department of Jus-tice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a lawsuit alleging that GFI Mortgage Bankers Inc., a mortgage banker with operations in seven states, violated feder-al fair lending laws by charging African-American and Hispanic borrowers higher interest rates and fees on home mortgage loans because of their race or national

origin, not based on their credit history.

The suit alleges that from 2005 through at least 2009, GFI charged higher loan prices to African-Americans and Hispan-ics than similarly-situated white borrow-ers. An African-American borrower paid on average of approximately $7,500 more over the first four years of the loan than a white borrower. For the Hispanic bor-rower, the difference was approximately $5,600 more over the first four years.

DOJ Settles Suit Alleging

Discrimination against

Women on Maternity Leave

Pennsylvania-The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it settled its lawsuit against the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC) for violation of the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against women on mater-nity leave. The settlement is the first in-volving discrimination against women

and families in mortgage insurance.

The lawsuit alleged that MGIC required women on maternity leave to return to work before the company would insure their mortgages, even for women who had a guaranteed right to return to work after the leave. Most mortgage lenders require applicants seeking to borrow more than 80 percent of their home’s val-

ue to obtain mortgage insurance.

The settlement establishes a $511,250 fund to compensate 70 individuals who the suit identified as aggrieved by the alleged discriminatory treatment. The settlement also requires MGIC to pay a

$38,750 civil penalty to the United States. Learn more at www.justice.gov/fairhousing.

HUD-Severe Penalties for Reverse

Mortgage Scam-Four Jailed

Florida-The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced the indefinite debarment of three South Florida mortgage loan offic-ers and a Pittsburgh title agent following criminal convictions on charges that they defrauded elderly borrowers in a $2.5 million nation-wide reverse mortgage scam. Reverse mortgages allows seniors to convert their home’s equity into a monthly stream of income, or a line of

credit.

The elderly victims lived in seven differ-ent states between May 2009 and No-vember 2010. According to the com-plaint, the loan officers used their posi-tions to identify financially vulnerable seniors and pressured them to refinance their existing mortgages into an FHA-insured reverse mortgage or Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), and that the title agent fraudulently closed the loans by failing to pay off the borrowers’ existing mortgages. All four individuals are currently serving prison terms, and have been ordered to make restitution. Learn more at www.hud.gov.

Discrimination Uncovered at Texas

Housing Agency

Texas- U.S. District Chief Judge Sidney Fitzwater recently ordered The Texas Department of Housing and Community

Affairs to file within 60 days a plan to alle-viate the discriminatory impact of its work. Although the Judge found that the housing agency unintentionally discriminated against minorities through its policies and decisions, it was also decided that: • The housing agency staff and board

used its power over development subsi-dies to push low-income housing on minority neighborhoods; and

• Failed to prove that it had the least dis-criminatory alternative that would ad-vance its interests to provide low-income housing subsidies in a fair and

transparent way.

Learn more at rbush@dallasnews.com

NFHA files Suit

Against Wells Fargo Bank

Recently, the National Fair Housing Alli-ance (NFHA) issued a report on the find-ings of its nationwide REO (Real Estate Owned) properties investigation. The re-port offers disturbing evidence that, “the same banks that peddled unsustainable loans to communities of color and triggered the current foreclosure crisis are now exac-erbating damage to those communities by failing to maintain and market those prop-erties with the same diligence and attention paid to properties owned in white are-as.” The report details the results of the evaluation of more than 1,000 REO proper-ties nationwide. Baltimore Maryland is

one of the cities cited in the complaint.

As a follow-up to its findings, NFHA filed a discrimination complaint in federal court alleging that Wells Fargo “has engaged in a systemic practice of maintaining and mar-keting its foreclosed, bank-owned proper-ties in a state of disrepair in communities of color while maintaining and marketing REO properties in predominantly White

communities in a far superior manner.”

For more read the report from the under-cover investigation: The Banks Are Back,

Our Neighborhoods Are Not: Discrimina-

tion in the Maintenance and Marketing of

REO Properties. Go to www.nationalfairhousing.org.

FairHousingAcrosstheNationFor many the issue of housing discrimination is believed to have been resolved in the sixties. More often than not, during outreach events, BNI

staff often have to define what the terms “fair housing” or “fair housing choice” mean. Seldom is there an immediate connection between the

terms and the concept (and law) of equal housing opportunities for everyone. Housing discrimination remains as relevant today as it was in the

sixties. These excerpts serve to remind us that our nation continues to grapple with the issue of housing discrimination. Fair Housing is the law!

What can fair housing organizations and forward thinking individuals do to ensure government officials and community developers understand the role that transportation has in ensuring fair housing choice? In the case of Baltimore, Maryland, BNI recommends that if constructed, the Red Line system provide equal access and the same amenities in the lower income community that is offered

to a higher income community.

(Making Connections — From page 2)

Tester dates! 05/17/2012 - Movie & Pizza Night for BNI Testers 6:00 P @ BNI. RSVP to kose@bni-maryland.org.

05/25/2012 - Tester Training 10:00 A @BNI - TO REGISTER, call 410-243-4468 and ask for Kerry

BNI Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. (BNI) is a nonprofit organization incorporated in March 1959. BNI is committed to fighting housing discrimination, supporting integrat-ed communities, improving relations be-tween tenants and landlords, providing com-munity education and advocating for per-sons with disabilities on housing accessibil-ity issues.

Contact BNI:

Write: 2530 N. Charles Street Suite 200 Baltimore, MD 21218 E-Mail: info@bni-md.org Phone: 410-243-4468 FAX: 410-243-1342 Web: www.BNI-Maryland.org

You Can Make A Difference!

Stand with BNI as we work for Maryland fami-lies and their right to fair housing choice. BNI works to ensure that all Marylanders are treated fairly when purchasing or renting a home. We need your help. Become a BNI member by purchasing a tax-deductible membership. For additional information, call Barbara Wilson at

410-243-4468.

Memberships levels are: Individual $35 Family $50 .

Non-Profit $75 Business $100.

Send your tax-deductible check to: 2530 N. Charles Street, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21218 or make your payment on our website at www.BNI-Maryland.org/index-16.html

Are you Looking for a Worthwhile Cause?

BNI Needs Customer Service Volunteers!

BNI’s Administration Department seeks vol-unteers for Monday—Friday, to greet its guests and answer the administrative phone lines. An excellent telephone manner and the ability to take down and relay accurate mes-sages is our only absolute requirement. Your volunteering will go a long way in supporting BNI’s efforts to eradicate discriminatory housing practices throughout the state. Basic computer skills a plus! Visit BNI’s website (www.bni-maryland.org) to learn more about what we do. Contact Barbara Wilson at 410-243-4468 for more information. This is an excellent opportunity for retired seniors with office experience.

BNI Announces the Dickens Warfield Fair Housing Award

On May 23, 2012 Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc. will honor Christopher Brown of the law firm Brown Goldstein Levy as the first recipient of the BNI Dickens Warfield Fair Housing Award

On October 21, 2011, beloved friend, mentor, advocate and BNI board member, Dr. Dickens Warfield died. Known to all as “Dickens,” Dr. Warfield dedicated much of her life to working for and with BNI to eradicate housing discrimi-nation in Maryland. Well into her eighties, Dickens could easily have played the role of the little old lady on any stage, but that image crumbled at the feet of her intellect, energy and stamina. During her tenure at BNI, Dickens consistently worked and volunteered in every capacity imaginable. At BNI she was a woman

of substance who’d found her calling in the work of ending housing discrimination.

BNI owes so much to Dickens Warfield. In large measure it is because of her diligent research, publications and tireless efforts that BNI is known for its work throughout the state. It was under her guidance that BNI fair housing staff learned how to best carryout the BNI mis-sion. Through her passing BNI has lost a great friend and an immeas-urable amount of institutional knowledge, both losses that can never be recovered.

To honor the memory of Dr. Dickens Warfield, the BNI fair housing award has been renamed. The new name is The BNI Dickens Warfield Fair Housing Award. The 2012 award will be given to Christopher Brown, of Brown Goldstein and Levy for his years of support in suc-cessfully moving BNI litigation forward.

Christopher Brown, Esq. will be honored with the BNI Dickens Warfield Fair Housing Award at its May 23rd Annual Meeting. Mr. Brown has had a long and impres-sive career as an attorney specializ-ing in the areas of appeals, civil liti-gation, mediation and public interest litigation. He has argued three cases before the US Supreme Court and litigated a series of Voting Rights Act lawsuits that brought the first African-American office holders to many Maryland town and county councils. He was Professor of Law at the University of Maryland from 1975 to 2005, and has served there as Professor Emeritus of

Law since then.

Mr. Brown holds degrees from Swarth-more College, the University of Dela-ware, and Georgetown University Law Center. He has been honored as one of the “Top 50 Super Lawyers” in Mary-land, and won the Daily Record’s Lead-ership in Law award. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and has served on the BNI Legal Com-mittee for well over a decade.

Christopher Brown

Dr. Dickens Warfield Chris Brown, Esq.