Fair Housing Team

What We Do:

The Fair Housing Team seeks to inform housing providers and consumers about fair housing rights and responsibilities, encourage State-funded housing providers to promote fair housing choice, and enlist decision-makers to advance the cause of fair housing.

Discrimination is defined by the Kansas Commission on Human Rights as any direct or indirect exclusion, distinction, segregation, limitation, refusal, denial, or any other differentiation or preference in the treatment of a person or persons on account of race or color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, familial status or disability and/or any denial of any right, privilege or immunity secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of Kansas. Discrimination shall include, but not be limited to, any practice that produces a demonstrable racial or ethnic effect without a valid business motive.

Who We Help:

Those helped include all Kansans who exercise the right of choice the right to live where they want to live, to raise a family or own a home in dignity and without fear of discrimination. Apartment dwellers and homeowners, property managers, real estate agents, interest groups, and individuals, all benefit from the educational information and training workshops offered.

How It Works:

The final rule for the Consolidated Plan, issued on January 5, 1995, requires all states and entitlement communities to complete an analysis of impediments to fair housing choice and submit the report to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In response to this mandate, the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation created the Fair Housing Team. The team acts as an advisory group to the Kansas Department of Commerce (Commerce), Kansas Housing Resources Corporation (KHRC), and Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE).

The Fair Housing Team developed an Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice from a statewide survey conducted in 1996 and updated in 2003. Subsequently, a Fair Housing Action Plan has been developed to address discrimination reported in the survey results.

The Fair Housing Team consists of representatives from Commerce, KHRC, KDHE and representatives from fair housing organizations across the state. The team generally meets on a quarterly basis to coordinate activities that will further fair housing choice in Kansas.

Key Statistics for 2003:

Proclamation of Fair Housing Month (April) by the Governor, 21 County Commissioners, and 120 Mayors.

Presentation of Tax Credit Compliance seminars, including fair housing, to 270 Section 42 Administrators.

Monitoring, and verification, of 1,445 State administered loans and grants for Fair Housing compliance.

Contact Information:

Sheila Robles
Compliance Administrator
611 S. Kansas Avenue, Suite 300
Topeka, Kansas 66603-3803
Phone: (785) 296-1134
Fax: (785) 296-8985

Related Programs:

Consolidated Plan

More Program Info

FHT Program Forms
FHT Related Links

House Bill 2582