NEW ORLEANS—Today, the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center announced that it is changing its name to the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, in recognition of the organization’s expansion to take on statewide work in the past decade. The name change comes as the organization will be celebrating its 25th year at its annual Fit for a King Fair Housing Summit on January 16th, 2020.
 
The Fair Housing Action Center is the only fair housing organization in the state and has secured important legal and policy wins across

Louisiana in the past decade. Those outside the Greater New Orleans area include:

• Passage of a 2018 state law penalizing landlords who illegally withhold security deposits.
• Passage of the Louisiana Violence Against Women Act, a 2015 state law that protects survivors of domestic violence from being evicted for the actions of their abuser.
• 2013 and 2017 rulings protecting people with disabilities recovering from addiction in Baton Rouge, LA and Lake Charles, LA from losing access to the Oxford Houses they called home.
• A 2013 settlement with a major financial institution allegedly engaged in discriminatory maintenance practices that resulted in a $1.4 million fund to increase homeownership and neighborhood stabilization in communities of color in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas.
• A 2012 settlement for victims of sexual harassment and assault by a public housing maintenance worker in Bossier City, LA.
• A 2011 $62 million settlement with HUD and the State of Louisiana to compensate homeowners across South Louisiana affected by the Road Home program’s racially discriminatory funding formula.

In celebration of the name change and the Fair Housing Action Center’s 25th anniversary, the organization is hosting a reception on January

15th, featuring Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of The New York Times bestseller The Warmth of Other Suns. The reception will be held the evening before the Fit for a King summit, where Ms. Wilkerson will be the keynote speaker. This year’s summit, Geographies of Change: 25 Years of Fair Housing Advocacy, will include panels and workshops featuring housing rights advocates, educators, and community leaders. More information can be found at fitforaking.org.
 
“I’m incredibly proud of the work our staff has done to serve Louisianans across the state. As we look to our next 25 years, this name change is an important step to ensure residents know how to find help when they believe they’ve been discriminated against, regardless of what parish they live in” said Cashauna Hill, Executive Director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center. 
 
 
Fit for a King is supported by funding under a grant with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  The substance and findings of the event are dedicated to the public. The grantee organization is solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations presented.  Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Government.