The North Dakota Fair Housing Council will be sponsoring a training on Fair Housing issues for attorneys. The training is scheduled for June 9^th from 9 am-3 pm at the Doublewood Inn in Bismarck. For more information, contact the NDFHC.

1997 Housing Complaints

The North Dakota Housing Council received a total of 173 calls alleging housing discrimination in 1997. Please note that some calls fell into one or more protected classes. The breakdown of those allegations are as follows:

Disability 45

Familial Status 45

Gender 8

National Origin 23

Race/Color/Religion 6

*Age 6

*Marital Status 25

*Source of Income 15

*State Protected Classes

Due to the reorganization of the NDFHC offices, many of the above complaints are still being investigated. A total of 11 complaints were filed with HUD in 1997 with some complaints pending in District Court.

The Montana Fair Housing will be sponsoring a Fair Housing Conference in Missoula, MT on April 20-22. Some of the topics include: Fair Housing Laws/Recent Changes, Law Enforcement & Fair Housing, Occupancy Standards, Advertising, Litigation and Design and Construction/Accessibility Issues. Should you like additional information, please contact Montana Fair Housing at:

406/542-2611 or 1-800/929-2611.

In November, two nuns who were unfairly evicted settled a federal fair housing lawsuit for $250,000. Sister Phyllis Sheppard, who is African-American, and Sister Kathleen Burke, who is white, received guidance and legal assistance from the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. The Leadership Council was also a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit and received a portion of the settlement which covered their costs associated with the case.

Clarence and Eileen Jacobs, the two white landlords who evicted the nuns, agreed to settle the case after the Chicago Commission on Human Relations ordered them to pay $165,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees to Sheppard. The Sisters of Providence, the order to which Sheppard and Burke belonged, promised to use the award to educate people about racism and racial discrimination.

Burke had lived with another white nun in an apartment owned by the Jacobses for four years with no problems. When her former roommate moved out, Burke asked Sheppard to move in. According to the Assocated Press, the Chicago neighborhood where the nuns lived was mostly white.

Shortly after Sheppard moved in, the Jacobses told Burke and Sheppard that they would have to vacate the apartment. The Jacobses claimed that the apartment was needed for a family member.

Burke and Sheppard moved out of the apartment, but no relative of the Jacobses ever moved in. Instead, the apartment was put back on the rental market and rented to a white tenant. The Leadership Council confirmed that the new tenant was not related to the Jacobses in any way.

Sheppard filed a complaint of racial discrimination with the Chicago Commission of Human Relations in November 1994. Eleven months later, the Commission ruled that the Jacobses had violated provisions of the Chicago Fair Housing Ordinance.

Sheppard and the Jacobses attended a conciliation conference in an attempt to resolve the complaint, but a resolution was not reached. So, in July 1996, the Leadership Council, the Sisters of Providence, and Sheppard filed a federal housing discrimination complaint.

Burke, who said that she had never witnessed discrimination first-hand, asserted that, like most white Americans, she was unaware that discrimination was still a problem. "I felt like it was behind us and in the history books. I was wrong," she said.

Sheppard did not attend the press conference to announce the settlement of her complaint. She did issue a written statement which was read at the conference. Sheppard condemned the discriminatory actions of the Jacobses. She said, "What happened to me in a Chicago Northwest Side neighborhood should not occur in any neighborhood."

Sheppard later went on to say that aggressive enforcement of fair housing laws will help to change that neighborhood. Since the case was filed, Sheppard, who works as a psychotherapist, has left the Sisters of Providence.

Sister Ann Margaret O’Hara of the Sisters of Providence said that Sheppard was deeply upset by the incident. "She felt her very person was attacked," O’Hara said.

The North Dakota Assisted Housing Coalition will be holding its Annual Conference on June 10-11 at the Radisson Inn in Bismarck, ND. A variety of sessions have been scheduled ranging from landlord tenant issues to fair housing concerns to effective marketing techniques. For additional information, please contact Karen Schwan Holman at 701/328-8056.