Kentucky Celebrates Fair Housing Month

HUD recognizes every April as National Fair Housing Month to memorialize the anniversary of the signing of the Fair Housing Act. This year, in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, statewide civil rights and housing advocates came together to attend the On the Sunlit Path event held in Metro Louisville.

Pictured left to right: Charles Leachman, Assistant Director of Tenant-Based Rental of Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC); Art Crosby, Director of Lexington Fair Housing Council and Panelist; Sandra Jones, Assistant to Senator Powers; Rick McQuady, Interim CEO of KHC ; Krista Mills, HUD Louisville Field Office Director; Former State Senator Georgia Powers; Vicki Ray, HUD Louisville Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Center Director, and Toni Smith, Fair Housing Trainer and Outreach Coordinator of KHC.

To observe this anniversary, HUD, the Kentucky Housing Corporation, and the Lexington Fair Housing Council conducted a ceremony and training for policymakers, advocates, and housing-industry professionals. The theme On the Sunlit Path comes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, I Have a Dream speech in which he said, "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice..."

Former Kentucky Senator Georgia Powers provided the keynote address Remembering the Past, Examining the Present, and Expectations for the Future. During her address, Senator Powers provided a historical perspective of the political climate in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and that of the nation leading up to the passage of the Kentucky fair housing law and the federal Fair Housing Act. "I believe we need power to make policy in order to effect change in our lives," declared Senator Powers.

Louisville Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Program Center Director Vicki Ray, stated, "We came together on this day to celebrate the many successes and great strides made toward ensuring all people in America have equal opportunity and access to housing their choices over the past 40 years. But we cannot forget that there is still much work to be done. This is evidenced by the fact that nationally, HUD and its partners received a total of 10,154 complaints of discrimination during the 2007 federal fiscal year."

Following the ceremony and keynote speech, panelists from housing advocacy agencies throughout the Commonwealth discussed how discrimination has impacted Kentuckians, where they believe we are today in fighting housing discrimination, and recommendations as to what can be done to continue to address discriminatory practices in the future.

Additional events held in Kentucky to recognize Fair Housing Month were conducted in Ashland, the City of Bowling Green, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Metro Louisville, and Whitesburg.