Fair Housing Initiative Program

Housing discrimination is an evil that hurts both its victims and society as a whole, particularly along the U.S.-Mexico border, where housing discrimination pairs with existing socioeconomic disparities to create and perpetuate intergenerational cycles of poverty. Since these injustices go against our vision of a free society, its elimination is a strong priority since it seriously injures its victims, causing them emotional and financial harm.

In response to these injustices, the Border Fair Housing & Economic Justice Center (BFHC) has created a Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) that assists people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination by partnering with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help people identify government agencies that handle complaints of housing discrimination. In addition, BFHC conducts preliminary investigation of claims, including sending "testers" to properties and lending institutions suspected of practicing housing discrimination and advocating on their behalf through the entire complaint process. In addition, BFHC conducts extensive community outreach and education activities that affirmatively further fair housing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The BFHC’s FHIP goal is to raise awareness and promote compliance with fair housing and civil rights laws that protect our community from housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, disability, and the presence of children under the age of 18 in the family. We all have the right to Equal Housing Opportunity - to be free from discrimination in housing transactions, which include rentals, sales, financing, insurance, and advertising.

If you believe your fair housing rights have been violated, if you have questions about fair housing compliance please contact the Border Fair Housing & Economic Justice Center at (915) 351-2770 or email us at justice@borderfairhousing.org.

More Information

Fair Housing Act
BFHC Fair Housing Complaint Process

Consumer Protection

The availability of a plethora of different consumer financial products often creates difficult choices that can victimize consumers through fraud, deception, and unfair business practices. The Border Fair Housing & Economic Justice Center’s (BFHC) Consumer Protection Initiative (CPI) is an integral part in preventing these abuses by promoting economic justice along the U.S.-Mexico, where a lack of education coupled with widespread systemic poverty has made many residents a target for predatory lenders. Through its certified mediators and counselors, BFHC’s CPI helps consumers make better choices by providing counseling on recognizing predatory lending issues through educational workshops as well as informing them of their rights under federal, state, and local consumer protection laws.

Financial Literacy

Through integrated homebuyer counseling and wealth/asset building education components, the Border Fair Housing & Economic Justice Center (BFHC) offers consumers a Financial Literacy Education Program (FLEP) that best suits their needs through the facilitation of an interactive community education curriculum. This curriculum covers diverse topics from setting up a checking account to avoiding predatory loans. BFHC offers these educational sessions to community members as well to leaders via a Train-the-Trainer curriculum that allows them to empower their local communities by allowing them to become certified FLEP educators in their respective community. FLEP provides different types of community education workshops including:Your Rights Under a Contract of Sale, Predatory Lending, Exotic Mortgages, and NCRC’s Financial Literacy Program

HSBC Financial Literacy Program

BFHC has recently launched a new financial education program in the colonias located in West Texas and Southern New Mexico, YourBankingCounts,SM for unbanked consumers, especially new immigrants whose lack of knowledge or access to traditional banking and financial services may hamper their financial success and their ability to fully integrate into their new communities. Under this program, BFHC provides education to border area residents to help them built wealth, understand how credit works, basics of financing, saving, and accessing credit. BFHC’s partnership with HSBC will make this resource available to underserved communities by sending financial couches to build the community’s capacity and facilitate workshops in neighborhoods addressing the financial issues our border communities’ face when trying to access the much needed resources. YourMoneyCounts Financial Education Material Please contact us for more information on this program or to register for the next financial literacy workshop in your community

Workshops - Click here for Calendar

MANAGING YOUR MONEY

Creating a budget, figuring your net worth, making decisions about what to spend your money on, and identifying the difference between essential vs. desirable expenses are some of the areas covered in this workshop. “Managing your money “might help you reduce your debt and accumulate more assets.

USING CREDIT

Credit can be a great ally in reaching your financial aspirations or your most awful enemy for those who do not plan or maintain responsible credit management. The workshop is designed to educate the consumer on how the credit works, about paying on time, interest rates, billing mistakes, and what you should know about the cost of using credit.

BANKING

The workshop is geared to provide you with options in finding the bank that is right for you, with a good combination of products, services, costs, and convenience. It covers the use of debit cards, how do checking accounts work, savings account, ATM/s and bank fees.

HOMEOWNERSHIP

Workshop covers what you should know about mortgages, the mortgage test, options of buying vs. renting, home equity loans or second mortgages, understanding the costs of a mortgage, and fixed vs. adjusted interest rates.

Affordable Housing in the Colonias

Contract For Deed Conversion Initiative

Through its Affordable Housing component, the Border Fair Housing & Economic Justice Center (BFHC) offers specialized instruction and assistance to community members who are often victims of predatory loans as they obtaining financing for the purchase of a home and rehabilitation. A special emphasis is given to Contract for Deed transactions, since these sub-prime loans are often predatory and target vulnerable monolingual immigrant colonia residents. Specifically, the BFHC is assisting these families through its HOME Contract for Deed Conversion Program. The Contract for Deed Conversion Initiative, funded by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) is available to residents who are currently purchasing residential property within 150 miles of the Texas-Mexico border and reside in a colonia identified by the Texas Water Development Board or meet the Department's definition of a colonia.
Additional assistance is provided for homebuyers and victims of predatory loans.

El Paso County Colonias Self-Help Center (SHC)

In order to address the need for affordable housing in the colonias, BFHC has partner with the County of El Paso to operate one of the Colonia SHCs funded by the Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs in the Border. The program serves as a toolbox for colonia residents by providing training on how to build and rehabilitate their homes, access loans and grants for construction material, access construction equipment trough a tool lending library, and provides consumer education on Fair Housing and predatory lending. This partnership reflects a committed partnership to affirmatively further Fair Housing.

Environmental Justice

Colonias Sanas Initiative

BFHC through an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant, and in conjunction with its mission of providing comprehensive development services to the Colonias by addressing existing socio-economic and health disparities in the Colonias will provide a wide range of environmental health services particularly within the underserved Colonias in El Paso and Doña Ana Counties.
The CSI Project in a collaborative approach through a Regional Environmental Consortium and a Colonia Resident Advisory Committee, will assist to create or enhance an effective mechanism that will empower the Colonias to benefit from the implementation of this program by:

• Assisting in addressing the most prevalent environmental issues in the Colonias such as promoting proper solid waste disposal, lead poisoning prevention, WNV mosquito bite prevention and control, etc.
• Creating a Train the Trainer course utilizing promotoras to assist the community
• Promoting self sufficiency
• Developing and implement a comprehensive colonia environmental justice program.