CVOEO’s Fair Housing Project suffers federal funding cuts

Read the full article at mychamplainvalley.com. Below is an excerpt.

The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity will lose significant federal funding for a project that helps thousands of Vermonters statewide facing housing discrimination cases.

“This really important housing justice work that we do will continue in some way, but the funding cut is going to limit our ability to serve people at a time when the need is just increasing,” said Jess Hyman, the Associate Director of Statewide Housing Advocacy Programs at CVOEO.

Funding for the Fair Housing Project typically comes from the United States department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), supporting roughly 80% of the project’s operations. And with a growing housing crisis across the state, the cuts are coming at a particularly challenging time.

“We’re seeing more instances of illegal housing discrimination and more people being forced out with housing situations because of who they are,” said Hyman.

While CVOEO is trying to offer its scheduled programming for fair housing month in April, program leaders hope the community will be able to fill in the financial gap, which is roughly $30,000.

The non-profit is also looking to fight back against what it says is an unlawful termination of grants. CVOEO is joining 60 other fair housing groups nationwide in a class action lawsuit, launched by law firm Relman Colfax and members of the National Fair Housing Alliance.