As the entire federal bureaucracy begins to use new media and share data under the direction of the White House's new Open Government Initiative, the National Fair Housing Alliance, MoveSmart.org, and the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance urge HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) to utilize media and technology more effectively.

Housing discrimination practices have evolved as technology has evolved.  By way of example, real estate agents and landlords use the internet to advertise available housing and often include discriminatory terms that illegally make this housing unavailable to members of the protected classes.  The federal government and civil rights advocates must respond by also using technology to identify these practices in order to open these closed doors.  The web offers many tools to help eradicate the more than estimated 4 million annual incidents of housing discrimination and as important, offers tools that can be used to effectively promote healthy diverse neighborhoods.

While the White House is taking the lead on data transparency and “gov 2.0,” new HUD leadership is beginning to address its long-ignored obligation to "affirmatively further fair housing."  New and innovative uses of technology provide HUD with one type of common-sense tool to meet this mandate in the 21st century.  Technology can be used to advance transparency and accountability of HUD programs, to increase public participation in decision-making processes concerning regional equity, to better inform the public about housing opportunities, and to strengthen cooperative relationships between HUD and its grantees.  Below, we offer eleven recommendations on how FHEO can harness these new tools to affirmatively further fair housing, end discrimination in housing, better serve victims of discrimination, and promote residential integration. At the end of each is a link to the "HUD Ideas in Action Forum" where you can vote to register your support for that recommendation with HUD.

At a lunch in Chicago this fall, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Open Government Beth Noveck encouraged a group of civic sector techies to make recommendations about open government and data transparency for various bureacracies. Noveck referenced the recently issued White House Open Government Directive (for more see the excellent analysis by TechPresident), and noted that they were interested in organizations pledging what they would build / do if the government did __blank__.

Since he took office this spring, I've had the privelege to see Asst. Sec. for Fair Housing John Trasviña speak a number of times. On every occassion he references the importance of taking fair housing "online", but to date his comments have focused on enforcement activities his office might take.

In response to this call and because we believe that there are a number of non-enforcement tech opportunities for HUD in general and Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity in particular, MoveSmart.org has been working with two large fair housing organizations to craft a set of tech recommendations for HUD and their office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). While they're not ready for release just yet, the Directive's aggressive time frame and our holiday plans compel us to give you a sneak peek.

Today, it is likely that most if not all of the 1,200+ states, counties, and municipalities across the country that receive CDBG funds are revisiting their plans and procedures. The Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York v. Westchester County settlement, announced last week, requires Westchester to make up for years of neglect regarding the affirmative furthering of fair housing – namely, addressing the impediments to fair housing choice that perpetuate segregation. As HUD’s Deputy Secretary Ron Sims noted during the press conference announcing the settlement, after nearly a decade of lax federal oversight communities around the nation are now “on notice”.

note: this post also appears on Rooflines.org

At a US House of Representatives hearing last week on "Livable Communities, Transit Oriented Development, and Incorporating Green Building Practices into Federal Housing and Transportation", HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced an new partnership. A joint task force, the "Sustainable Communities Initiative", will address the intersection of transportation and housing affordability.

While any genuine effort to address housing affordability is welcome, this new HUD/DOT task force is particularly exciting because it reflects a new understanding of the complex issues that confront metropolitan regions and the sometimes surprising ways they intersect. Encouraging smarter planning, expanding the definition of affordability, and researching the livability of communities work in tandem to increase the use of public transportation, decrease our carbon footprint, reduce urban sprawl, enable the smarter use of regional resources, and improve affordable housing options for families.  In short, this is one of those rare initiatives that seem to naturally align a multitude of interests.

Unfortunately, two considerations were missing from this announcement: the impact of racial and economic segregation and the importance of open government data. But with just a few tweaks addressing these concerns, HUD and DOT can dramatically expand the impact of this new task force.

Below is a snippet from Shaun Donovan's confirmation hearing on January 13, 2009, with our emphasis added:

Sen.