Fair housing conference to address recent legal developments

“Race, Place, and Fair Housing in Texas: A Statewide Conference” will be held at the University of Texas School of Law on October 15, 2010. The conference will bring together top national experts and leading local practitioners to discuss how recent legal developments affect Texas cities’ obligations to create inclusive housing opportunities for persons of color.

The conference features keynote speaker Mercedes Márquez, assistant secretary for community planning and development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Other out-of-state speakers include Michael Allen and Reed Colfax of Relman, Dane & Colfax; Myron Orfield of the Institute of Race and Poverty; Barbara Samuels of the ACLU of Maryland’s Fair Housing Project; Philip Tegeler with the Poverty &  Race Research Action Council; and Kevin Walsh of the Fair Share Housing Center.

Speakers will address the recent landmark Texas fair housing settlement, which involves the allocation of $1.7 billion in federal Community Development Block Grant funding. The speakers will discuss how the settlement, along with other national legal developments, will impact the way that the State of Texas and cities plan for new development and allocate billions in federal resources for housing and community development. Panels of experts will present policy tools that could be adopted in Texas to bring cities into compliance with federal law by removing barriers and creating fair housing opportunities in inclusive communities.

The Law School’s Community Development Clinic and William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law are co-presenting the conference. Cosponsors include the University of Texas School of Architecture’s Center for Sustainable Development; the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs; and the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights.

For more information about the conference, visit the conference website.

Press contact: Kirston Fortune, University of Texas School of Law Communications, 512-471-7330, kfortune@law.utexas.edu

Conference contact: Mauricio Pajon, University of Texas School of Law Community Development Clinic, 512-232-2574, mpajon@law.utexas.edu

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