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For over 20 years a few Flint and Genesee County residents and organizations made sporadic attempts to establish a Fair Housing Center. However, in spite of the fact that Flint is one of the most segregated cities in the country, this community need was not responded to until 1998 when LSEM started the Genesee County Fair Housing Center in Flint. The scope and depth of the problem was well documented in the 1998 "Impediments to Fair Housing Study" done for the City of Flint and Genesee County by Dr. Joe Darden.
It was this study citing a community need to which LSEM responded. Since discrimination is so subtle and many people are unaware that they are being discriminated against, few if any individual complaints were ever registered with LSEM. Certainly not a sufficient number to warrant developing a whole new specialty of legal service. However, since LSEM is committed to responding to the whole client community it represents a need that cannot be ignored.
Unlike traditional legal services for fair housing centers, LSEM is proceeding with systemic testing, even in the absence of complaints. Over 200 paired tests were completed in 2000. These tests have reaffirmed the discrimination problem cited in the Darden Impediments Study and created an increasing willingness for partners such as the City of Flint, smaller municipalities, and County government to unite with LSEM in addressing fair housing. LSEM is now proceeding on behalf of the community to attempt to obtain remedial action against violators.
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