home - visually impaired - translate - housing - members News Resources Contact Us   Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission Monroe County Advisory Council (also Serves Pike County)   Housing Tester Volunteer Sign-Up Form Reading Between the Lines: A Guide for Housing/Commercial Property Advertisements   Housing and Property Training (May, 2008)   Adobe Notes: Housing complaints can collect damages. Familial status can apply as a discriminatory class in housing cases. Statue of limitations for PHRC is 180 days but the HUD time limitation of 360 days can also apply. Can not base the selling or renting a home on any specific class.  Can not have rules based on children but can have rules for that apply to everyone.  For example, can state "no bikes allowed" but can not state "kids can not ride bikes". Occupancy standards must be constant and use the term "people" rather than "children" Can not advertise for specific class but acceptable for shared living spaces (e.g., women, non-smoker).  See also Reading Between the Lines. Landlord must permit changes for accessibility even for historic buildings and the cost by tenant. Reasonable accommodations and the only defense is when BOTH a financial and administrative hardship. Can not retaliate against someone that filed a complaint. Predatory Lending: Housing loan fees can not cost a person more than 5% of the loan itself, can not target a class and 3 days are allowed to rescind a loan. Predatory Loan: Don't let a bad loan hang you out to dry! Predatory Loan: Definition   Monroe/Pike County Housing Testing Program   Team Leader:   Robert Veneziale PHRC Housing Contact: Tiffany Epoca Housing and Commercial Property Division Harrisburg Regional Office Office: 717-783-3874 TTY: 717-787-7279 FAX: 717-783-7703 tepoca@state.pa.us Testing Process: The Advisory Council will establish a network of volunteers to be testers throughout Monroe and Pike County.  The contact information and protected class demographics of the testers will be collected in an on-line database, which is to be established.   Housing testing trainers will complete a train the trainer session conducted by PHRC or the advisory council. Trainers from the Advisory Council will visit community groups, churches and other organizations periodically to explain housing testing and recruite volunteer testers.  The trainer, training date and group contact person will also be collected in the volunteer database. When an applicable  housing complaint has been filed with the PHRC, they will contact the team leader for testing and provide the testing specifics. The team leader will identify volunteers from the database that fit the protected class demographics to be tested. The team leader and/or another trainer will refresher the volunteers on the housing testing  and provide the specifics to them for the testing. The testers will conduct and document the testing and then provide all the completed forms to the PHRC. Requirements for Volunteer Testers: Housing Tester Volunteer Sign-Up Form Objective, observant, organized and good listeners. Recognizable members of the community are not good testers but can help as a trainer or recruiter. Fit the protected class or a non-minority class as a control tester. Available for several hours for training and to conduct the testing. Able to testify in court if needed.  Some cases take a couple years before ending up in court; therefore testers should intend to stay in the region.     Housing Testing Training (September, 2009)   Powerpoint Adobe Web Attended by: Minister Bea Arrington, Roger Dennis, Perry Gower, Kay Lopez, Marcelle Michael, Captain William Parrish, Cindy Stine, Joann Townsend, Dr. Julie Weber and Dr. Robert Veneziale. Notes: Discrimination in housing is very difficult to prove and that is the purpose of testing.  The goal of the program is to provide testers for the PHRC when needed. Testing is only done when a complaint has been filed and is not done to find potential complaints.  Someone from a protected class must have claimed they were harmed to initiate testing. PHRC gets a lot of housing cases from Monroe County.  PHRC needs a resource of testing volunteers in Monroe.  A team leader from the council should be identified to coordinate the testers.  We were provided the training and can train volunteers for testers.   Ideally testing should be conducted within 30 days of filing the complaint.   Testers are requested for a specific protected class as well as control testers for a non-minority class.  However, testers will not be told what is being tested or about the case.  The sandwich model is used in which a tester of the class in question inquires about the housing first and last with a control tester of the non-minority class in the middle.   Testing: The testers can travel to the site together but can not discuss the case or what happens. Each test should be done at a frequency that is not unusual for the specific situation or area e.g., over couple days or weeks. Potential renters/owners are often nervous inquiring about housing so its also fine for testers also to be nervous. Testers can take notes since many potential renters/home owners also take notes. Testers should avoid making a personal connection or bond with the person being tested as to not influence their opinion or actions, e.g., I offered them the apartment because they are a Phillies fan. Testers should be observant of anything unusual in the surroundings which supports the case or proves the tester was there. Always check for accessibility issues and note if asked any illegal questions e.g., are you married, have children? Testers will need to fill out forms and a report to document the testing but this should not be done at the test site.   Volunteer testers are paid and testing will depend on available funding. Homosexually is presently not a protected class. The local Center for Independent Living (CIL) is a good resource for testers of disability which is the largest segment affected today in housing discrimination.  The CIL for Northeast PA is in Scranton, www.nepacil.org.   Housing Testing Workshop (April, 2009)   Workshop Flyer Attended by: Chris Adams, Robert Hillman and Joann Townsend Statement of Funding Grant: Provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) This program promoting Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity was made possible in part by funding provided by HUD but the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is solely responsible for its content. Presentations Powerpoint files can be opened or downloaded as .ppt or Adobe PDF files.  The powerpoint files are also posted as web presentations which require ActiveX Controls and allowing blocked content to run on your browser. Phase I: History of Testing in PA, Raymond Cartwright HCPD Director, Emeritus Powerpoint Adobe Web Phase II: Steps in Developing Testing Program     Understanding the requirements for tests, Christine Rice, HCPD Supervisor Region 2 Understanding what makes a good tester, Raymond Cartwright Recruiting testers and training them, Martin Kearney, Ed. & CS Division, Region 2 Announcing testing program to potential respondents v. covert testing, Raymond Cartwright Powerpoint Adobe Web Phase III:    Conducting Tests and Overcoming Issues Christine Rice Powerpoint Adobe Web Phase IV:    Evaluating tests Raymond Cartwright Powerpoint Adobe Web Phase V:    Post test activities Christine Rice Powerpoint Adobe Web Forms and Documents Form A: Phone Test Form Form B: Phone Test Narrative Form Form D: Test Residental Unit Description Form Form E: Tester Rental United Description Form Note: Form C is Not Provided, PHRC Use Only Questions Asked at Hearing Test Assignment/Scenario Form Test Report Form Sales Bryan Case Havens Realty Corp Case Municipal Test Listing Ordinance Access Doctors Flyer Long "ARM" of the Law Flyer New Construction Testing District Housing Resource List Map of Testing Districts Helpful Links (word doc) Accessibility http://www.accessdoctors.state.pa.us/ Complaints http://www.hud.gov/complaints/housediscrim.cfm Disabilities http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/disabilities/  Index – Federal Housing Laws http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/FHLaws/index.cfm Fair Housing/Equal Opportunity Testing http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/aboutfheo/aboutfheo.cfm  Housing http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PHRC/housing/housing_home.html Victims http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PHRC/complaint/victim.html Publications http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PHRC/publications/publication State Court Decisions http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/PHRC/legal/state_court_decisions.html Federal Court Decisions http://www.hud.gov/offices/oalj/cases/fha/pdf/jancik.pdf Community Services http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/hcs.cfm?webListAction=search&searchstate=PA     Note: The translation is a free service from Altavista Babel Fish. 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