DOI: 10.3886/e101766v2
title: Study of the Fair Housing Initiatives Program.

description: This study examines the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) from its inception in 1987 through 2006. The goals of this study are to create a history of FHIP, describe its grantees, analyze the types of grants awarded through the program, and analyze the outcomes of cases investigated by grant recipients, especially the comparison of the outcomes of cases referred by the grantees with those referred by others. It is useful to note the limitations of this study. It is primarily a process study of FHIP based on interviews with FHIP grantee organizations. Outcomes are reported based on cases that are referred to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The study does not include reviews of cases not referred to HUD and does not assess the efficiency of FHIP or effects of the program.This report is based in part on site visits and a web survey of FHIP grantees.<br><br>This study analyzes a combination of qualitative information collected through key informant interviews, onsite interviews with representatives of FHIP grantees, FHIP Notices of Funding Availability (NOFAs), and the following three quantitative data sources: (1) a web-based survey administered to organizations that received a FHIP grant between FY 2003 and FY 2005; (2) the HUD administrative database of all grants awarded between FY 1989 and FY 2006; and (3) Title VIII Automated Paperless Office Tracking System (TEAPOTS) data of outcomes for all cases referred to HUD between FY 2003 and FY 2005.This section details how each data source was used to generate the findings presented in this report.
description: The research team conducted onsite interviews with representatives of 10 organizations that received FHIP grants between FY 2003 and FY 2005. During this 3-year period, 2 of the selected organizations received both a PEI and an EOI, 4 organizations received a PEI grant only, and the remaining 4 organizations received an EOI grant only. The sample of EOIgrant recipients was selected from a frame that was stratified by the following organizational categories: legal aid services, nonprofit organizations, HBCUs, and local or state governments. The sample of PEI grantees was selected from a frame that was stratified into legal aid services and Fair Housing Organizations.<br>After stratifying the organizations that received PEI and EOI grants, 10 organizations were selected to reflect the distribution of the role of fair housing initiatives in their overall missions among those 64 web-based survey respondents who provided information by January 22, 2008. Web-based survey respondents were asked whether fair housing work constituted an “exclusive, primary, significant role among several, secondary, or minor” role in their organizations’ missions. Of web-based survey respondents, 34 percent indicated that fair housing initiatives played an “exclusive” role, 25 percent indicated that fair housing initiatives played a “primary” role, and 38 percent indicated that fair housing initiatives played a “significant role among several” activities (Table 8).<br>The distribution of the role of fair housing initiatives in the mission statements of the 10 organizations selected for onsite interviews was about the same as for all 64 web-based respondents who answered the question regarding the role of fair housing initiatives in their overall mission statements. This sample was selected to ensure that the distribution of the geographic coverage of the 10 organizations was the same as for all web-based survey respondents. Web-based survey respondents identified their organizations’ target area as multiple cities or counties, multiple states, single city, single county, single metropolitan area, statewide, or targeted neighborhoods. Based on responses to this question, the distribution of the sampled organizations’ target areas was about the same as for web-based survey respondents (Table 9). Research team members conducted onsite, semistructured interviews with the executive director and fair housing director of each of the 10 selected organizations using an interview guide that HUD approved (Appendix B). The information that these interviewees provided was used to detail procedures that grantees used when processing complaints and the criteria they used to determine when to conduct fair housing tests.