From the beginning . . . . . .
The civil rights organization was created on August 29, 1974, under the leadership of several area organizations affiliated with National Neighbors and a coalition of church groups in South DeKalb County. Chartered originally as Homefinders Listing Service, Inc., the community-based agency was developed as an alternative to a dual housing delivery system which was contributing to rapid racial turnover. The purpose of the new organization was to counter racial steering and promote stable, integrated communities in South DeKalb County, an area characterized at the time by blockbusting, racial steering, and a high foreclosure rate. Homefinders Listing Service, Inc. maintained a free listing service for sale and rental properties hoping to create diversified communities. The organization’s name was changed to Metro Fair Housing Services, Inc. (Metro) in August of 1978 because of confusion associated with the former name when organizers stopped providing the listing service and focused on other ways to promote integrated communities throughout the metropolitan area.
Metro’s mission is to promote social justice and eliminate housing and lending inequities for all people through leadership, education and outreach, public policy advocacy and enforcement of Federal Fair Housing laws.
From its inception, Metro has been involved in both fair housing litigation and testing programs. Metro participated in a national Housing Discrimination Studies (HDS) in 1989, 2000 and 2010. The purpose of the studies was to measure the amount of discrimination faced by home-seekers. The 2000 HDS study, conducted by the Urban Institute, included the following cities in Georgia: Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, and Columbus. Metro is a charter member of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and has conducted tests for NFHA for several years. In the mid 1990’s, NFHA conducted a nationwide study of insurance companies to determine if homeowners in minority neighborhoods were charged higher rates than homeowners in majority neighborhoods for hazard insurance. Metro performed insurance tests in the Atlanta area that forced insurance companies to change the way they offer coverage to all homeowners across the country.
Metro was a co-plaintiff, along with NFHA and three other private fair housing organizations in Florida and California, in a lawsuit alleging that A. G. Spanos, a major national builder of multifamily apartments, was not constructing units that were accessible for people with mobility impairments. In December 2009, in the largest settlement of an accessibility case as of that time ($12 million+), the defendants agreed to pay compensatory damages to the plaintiffs and to retrofit approximately 13,200 units in 41 developments across the United States, including Georgia. The defendants also agreed to provide funding specifically for retrofits for disabled individuals. From those funds, Metro helped 26 families in 2010-2012. Additionally, as a result of this litigation, Metro convened a panel of 35 experts representing a broad range of industries and backgrounds to evaluate the state of housing for people with disabilities in Georgia. The panel looked at housing needs of the disabled, reviewed existing research and explored best practices. Metro published the “white paper”, Shut Out, Priced Out and Segregated: The Need for Fair Housing for People With Disabilities - August 2011 - A Public Policy Report and Recommendations Addressing the State of Housing for Georgians with Disabilities", which sparked a state-wide (SOPOS Coalition) and national movement to remove the political, legal, and structural barriers to affordable, accessible and integrated housing for the disabled.
During the past two decades Metro has conducted Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) studies for the following jurisdictions: Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, Warner Robbins, Columbus, Athens/Clarke County, DeKalb County, Fulton County, Gwinnett County and New Hanover, NC. These required studies have assisted these jurisdictions in meeting their obligation to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH). Through a federal Private Enforcement Initiative grant, Metro currently provides Fair Housing Enforcement and Education & Outreach services to seven (7) north Georgia counties: Cherokee, Cobb, Dekalb, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Hall. Metro also provides comprehensive contractual Fair Housing Planning services to Dekalb, Clayton and Henry counties and receives housing discrimination complaints from throughout the state of Georgia.
Effective April 6, 2015, Metro moved its main office from 175 Trinity Avenue in downtown Atlanta to the John C. Birdine Neighborhood Center in southwest Atlanta in order to acquire a significantly more affordable and secure facility from which to operate. Its highly skilled staff of 7 full-time employees continue to travel to various locations to provide the same level of efficient, courteous service to north Georgia residents. In September 2013, Metro opened a satellite office in Gwinnett County to focus on the issue of national origin discrimination. That office closed in 2016 with the expiration of its grant funding.
Metro employs a three-tiered system of Education & Outreach, Intake & Counseling and Enforcement to accomplish its mission:
- The Education & Outreach Initiative is designed to ensure that the general public and protected classes become knowledgeable concerning Fair Housing laws and the means available to seek redress for Fair Housing rights violations, and includes private housing industry provider education programs structured to furnish developers, real estate brokers, property managers, financial institutions, the media/advertising industry, etc. with the most current information necessary to fully comply with federal, state and local Fair Housing laws.
- The Intake & Counseling Initiative provides complaint intake and counseling services. The Housing Discrimination HELP LINE provides complaint intake, information and referral services, counseling services, and assistance to all residents seeking housing opportunities. Housing Counseling services are designed in compliance with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s approval criteria for local housing counseling agencies and provides comprehensive homebuyer counseling services free of charge to all participants as follows: Pre-Purchase Homebuyer Education Workshops; Pre-Purchase Counseling; Rental and Financial Management/Budget Counseling; Federal, state Fair Housing and Fair Lending Education.
- The Private Enforcement Initiative involves testing and investigation of alleged Fair Housing violations in the state of Georgia, the prevention and elimination of discriminatory housing practices, and pursuing the enforcement of meritorious claims.
In 2011 Metro began providing comprehensive Fair Housing Planning Services to public housing authorities (PHA’s) that were defendants in litigation brought by the Department of Justice for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), generally around tenant selection and placement practices. Those services include, but are not restricted to: 8-hour Employee Education Programs (curriculum development and training); preparation of Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice studies for the PHA; fair housing consultant services.
Metro’s specific services and activities are as follows:
- Fair Housing education workshops/training seminars in English and Spanish for the general public, protected classes, housing providers (realtors, lenders, developers, property owners and managers, insurance agents, appraisers, public housing authorities, others), attorneys, local jurisdictions, community and faith-based organizations
- Creation and distribution of customized Fair Housing education/training materials in English and Spanish (newsletters/brochures/flyers/posters/promotional items)
- Housing discrimination complaint intake, counseling
- Testing and investigation of alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act (FHA)
- Referrals to administrative agencies and private attorneys for legal services
- Federally approved housing counseling services, i.e., homebuyer education certification seminars and rental counseling
- General information and referral services for housing-related issues, i.e., landlord/tenant issues, predatory lending
- Technical assistance in developing fair housing policies, ordinances, procedures
- Identifying “best practices” within all communities that affect equal and open access to housing opportunities
- Assisting local jurisdictions and public housing authorities in meeting their obligations to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH) by implementing work plans to address the findings of Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) studies or Assessments of Fair Housing (AFH)
Through its enforcement work in evaluating bank-owned REO (Real Estate Owned) properties, Metro joined the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and other private fair housing organizations nationwide in filing HUD administrative complaints against five lenders alleging differential treatment in the maintenance and marketing of foreclosures in neighborhoods of color versus white neighborhoods. One of those complaints, filed against Wells Fargo, reached a settlement in June 2013. The $42 million, ground-breaking settlement included community relief funds to be administered by Metro in communities impacted by the foreclosure crisis. Wells Fargo provided $27 million to NFHA and 13 fair housing organizations to benefit 19 cities and promote home ownership, neighborhood stabilization, property rehabilitation, and development in communities of color. Metro administered approximately $1.4 million and provided a range of assistance to owner-occupants seeking to purchase homes in targeted neighborhoods and renovation efforts for homes that languished in foreclosure, including creative programs to increase homeownership and neighborhood stabilization.
On December 5, 2016, Metro joined NHFA and 19 other local fair housing groups across the country in filing a housing discrimination lawsuit against the mortgage giant, formerly the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) in federal district court in San Francisco, CA. The lawsuit is the result of a multi-year investigation, failed discussions with Fannie Mae, and alleges that the entity purposely fails to maintain its foreclosures (REO’s) in middle- and working-income African American and Latino neighborhoods to the same level of quality it does for foreclosures it owns in white middle- and working-class neighborhoods. The lawsuit contains information/pictures from more than 2,300 foreclosures owned and maintained by Fannie Mae. Metro investigated 106 such properties from 2011-2015 and found significant disparities in maintenance and marketing practices in southwest Atlanta, south Dekalb County and adjoining neighborhoods/counties.
On February 7, 2022, NFHA, Metro and 19 co-plaintiffs reached a landmark $53 million agreement with Fannie Mae (formally known as the Federal National Mortgage Association) to resolve a case arising from allegations that Fannie Mae treated foreclosed homes in communities of color unfavorably. The settlement will help rebuild and strengthen communities of color in 39 metropolitan areas including Metro’s eight-county service area. In the case, Metro and the other plaintiffs alleged that Fannie Mae maintained and marketed its foreclosed homes in predominantly White neighborhoods while allowing similar homes in communities of color to fall into disrepair and that this differential treatment exacerbated the damage caused by the 2008 mortgage crisis and impeded recovery from the crisis in neighborhoods of color. The settlement marked the first time that a federal court confirmed the nation’s fair housing laws cover the maintenance and marketing of Real Estate Owned (REO) properties. The plaintiffs’ 2016 allegations against Fannie Mae arose after a comprehensive, four-year investigation of more than 2,300 Fannie Mae-owned foreclosed properties in 39 metropolitan areas in the country. Of those properties, 106 were located in Metro’s service area. The plaintiffs collected more than 49,000 photographs revealing poorly maintained properties in Black and Latino communities, particularly as compared to properties in predominantly White neighborhoods.
The February 2022 agreement has far-reaching implications. Metro and the other plaintiffs will invest the vast majority of the settlement monies directly back into the communities they allege were harmed by Fannie Mae’s conduct. Specifically, plaintiff organizations will use over $35 million of the settlement to promote home ownership, neighborhood stabilization, access to credit, property rehabilitation, and residential development in the 39 metropolitan areas at issue in the case, including metropolitan Atlanta. Metro will manage and disburse its settlement funds, providing much-needed grants for innovative programs and partnerships to advance fair housing/fair lending and community development. In June 2023 Metro partnered with Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership (ANDP) utilizing the settlement’s community relief funds to rehabilitate ten (10) existing homes and build ten (10) new homes that are affordable to persons between 80% and 120% AMI, located primarily in impacted neighborhoods of color, with basic accessibility features in all newly constructed homes.
In September 2024 NFHA and Metro announced a major 3-year partnership with United Bank to increase homeownership and access to credit in communities of color in middle Georgia. Through this initiative, United Bank will create a $2.165 million loan subsidy fund; invest in NFHA and MFHS’ Inclusive Communities programs for increasing homeownership opportunities in underserved communities in 5 counties; enhance fair housing and fair lending policies, training, and monitoring; and, increase marketing and outreach efforts to promote the Bank’s home loan products in communities of color. Metro is responsible for providing fair housing and financial literacy training and comprehensive homebuyer education classes. NFHA will administer down payment and closing cost grants to first-time homebuyers through a third party.
