• April is Fair Housing Month

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    Housing discrimination impacts and shapes our communities. Want to learn more about the basics of fair housing or recent developments in fair housing law? Attend our symposium and hear from the foremost academic experts and community advocates who are actively fighting against housing discrimination in the field!

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    When?
    Thursday, April 4, 2019

    8:00 am- 5:30 pm

    Where? 
    The Mexican Heritage Plaza (1700 Alum Rock Ave, San Jose, CA 95116)

     

  • Presentation Materials

    Click on the buttons below to view presentation materials from our symposium.

  • Immigration: Seeking Sanctuary

  • Fair Housing 101

  • Gender Based Harassment in the Me Too Era

  • Section 8: Limitations & Alternatives

  • Gentrification Unwrapped

  • Panels

    Interested in a panel topic? Check out our descriptions. Additional panel to be announced soon!

  • Plenary

    As the housing crisis grows, we hear calls for fairness in housing, but the ideas of affordability and discrimination are often lumped together without further explanation. Are we relying too much on an assumption that decision makers understand the relationship between these two topics? Our speakers will explore the intersection between affordability and housing discrimination. Join us for a discussion—is building more affordable housing is enough, or does housing discrimination need to be explicitly included in the conversation on the housing crisis?

    Fair Housing Legislative Updates

    In 2018, the federal Fair Housing Act turned 50 years old, but there have been numerous amendments since its passage. In the last few years, California has enacted laws to affirmatively further fair housing and to protect immigrants against deportation threats from housing providers. Additionally, several municipalities have designated section 8 as a protected class. The legislative updates panel shall discuss these recent additions to fair housing law and the practical implications they have for housing advocates.

    Immigration: Seeking Sanctuary

    With the passage of SB 54, California unofficially became the nation’s first sanctuary state. Although SB 54 shields many from deportation, immigrants continue to experience human and civil rights violations because of their immigration status. This panel highlights the challenges faced by immigrants searching for housing in the midst of two distinct crises: the national immigration crackdown and California’s affordable housing shortage.

    Fair Housing 101

    By prohibiting housing discrimination based on protected classes, fair housing laws aim to provide protections to historically oppressed populations who are disproportionately impacted by the housing affordability crisis. Fair Housing 101 will provide a look into the personal experiences of individuals who have dealt with housing discrimination, and introduce fair housing laws and protected classes. Participants who are new to fair housing will leave with a better understanding of what housing discrimination looks like amidst the current housing crisis.

    Section 8 Limitations & Alternatives

    The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program is a federal program that helps low-income families to afford housing in the private market. While the program has made a difference in the lives of many, it is limited in its capacity to alleviate the affordable housing crisis because landlords are not required to accept Section 8 vouchers in most parts of California. This panel will explore the challenges facing low-income home seekers, including the stigmatization of voucher holders, the impact of the government shutdown on affordable housing programs, and the efficacy of Section 8 to address California’s affordable housing shortage.

    Gender Based Discrimination in the Me Too Era

    Although the #metoo movement has highlighted sexual misconduct in the work place, it fails to address the experience of women facing harassment and violence at home. Due to the lack of affordable housing in California, many women have to make the choice between staying housed live and escaping violence and harassment. This panel explores gender discrimination in housing and strategies survivors can use to exercise their rights under fair housing laws.

    Gentrification Unwrapped

    In the past few decades, the Bay Area has become increasingly gentrified as historically disinvested neighborhoods have seen drastic economic and cultural changes. Priced out of their rentals, and displaced from their neighborhoods, low income populations are being pushed into increasingly undesirable homes. This is a fair housing issue as minorities are disproportionately impacted by the effects of gentrification. Join us for a conversation on how patterns of displacement have contributed to a racially and economically segregated Bay Area, and hear from an advocate in the field on her experience working with displaced clients.

  • Speakers

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    Tim Iglesias​- Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco, School of Law

    Keynote Speaker and Kerstin Arusha Award Recipient

    Professor Tim Iglesias, an expert in housing and property law, has served on the USF law faculty since 2001. He is a frequent speaker and media commentator on housing issues.

    Iglesias earned his Juris Doctor from Stanford University Law School with distinction in 1993, after receiving a bachelor's degree and an honorary master's from Oxford University, and graduating with a bachelor's degree from Loyola Marymount, magna cum laude. In 2015, he was appointed by Gov. Brown to the California Fair Employment and Housing Council, which drafts regulations to influence California's laws to protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations and from hate violence.

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    Plenary

    • Jesus Hernandez- Professor of Sociology at UC Davis and author of The Fight for Fair Housing
    • Navneet Grewal- Senior Attorney at the Western Center on Law & Poverty
    • Chancela Al-Mansour- Executive Director, Housing Rights Center
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    Fair Housing Legislative Updates

    • Michael Lane- Deputy Director at SV@Home
    • Melissa Morris- Staff Attorney at the Public Interest Law Project
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    Immigration: Seeking Sanctuary

    • Jamie Crook- Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California
    • Jesus Hernandez- Professor of Sociology at UC Davis and author of The Fight for Fair Housing
    • Margaret McBride- Senior Housing Attorney at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto
    4

    Fair Housing 101

     

    • Pablo Zatarain- Executive Director at Fair Housing Napa Valley
    • Deborah Gettleman- Supervising Attorney at Disability Rights California
    • Jaqueline C. Ramirez- Associate Fair Housing Director, Project Sentinel
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    Section 8 Limitations & Alternatives

    • Linda Marroquin- Tenant
    • Jacky Morales-Ferrand- Director at City of San José Department of Housing
    • Navneet Grewal- Senior Attorney at the Western Center on Law & Poverty
    6

    Gender Based Discrimination in the Me Too Era

     

    • Renee Williams- Staff Attorney at the National Housing Law Project
    • Liza Cristol-Deman- Partner at Brancart & Brancart
    • Arianna Cook-Thajudeen- Legal Fellow at the National Housing Law Project
    • Paula Del Pozo- Residential Services Director at WEAVE
    7

    Gentrification Unwrapped

    • Miriam Zuk- PhD, Director of Urban Displacement Project
    • Ruby Acevedo-Staff Attorney at Public Advocates
  • Contact Us

    Have questions about our symposium? Reach out to us!

    1490 El Camino Real
    Santa Clara, CA 95050