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>> [Background music] We're here
at Gallaudet University's Kellogg Conference Center
for the Office of the Tenant Advocate's First Annual Tenant
and Tenant Association Summit.
Stay tuned for an exciting mix
of interviews featuring elected officials,
conference sessions and tenant activists.
[Background crowd] We're here with Brian Gilmore
of the Howard University School of Law's Fair Housing Clinic
at the First Annual Office of the Tenant Advocate's Tenant
and Tenant Association Summit.
Welcome.
>> Brian Gilmore: How are you doing?
>> Tell us about the fair housing clinic
at Howard University?
>> Brian Gilmore: [Background crowd talking] Well this is our
fourth year -- it's a fair housing clinic
at the Clinical Law Center at the law school.
We provide education and outreach for the citizens
of the District of Columbia.
We also do Montgomery County, PG County.
All around the area we talked to them
about housing discrimination, portable housing issues,
fair lending issues and we even do some tenant issues involving
discrimination or just normal tenant issues.
And we tried to do educational programs, so tenants
and homeowners in fact know their rights, or people who want
to buy a home and feel like they're being discriminated
in their home purchase process, or understand the process
and maybe they were discriminated against
and they can take action.
And we also will provide legal advice and on top
of the educational and outreach programs.
>> You said this office is in its fourth year?
>> Brian Gilmore: This is our fourth year.
We're at the Howard University School of Law
up on the law campus, not on the main campus of Howard,
but on the up where the law school is.
>> What was the impetus for starting this office?
>> Brian Gilmore: Well, it was a need in the city but it was
through a grant with the Department of Housing
and Urban Development and it was a very historic grant
because the grant was specifically targeted
to establish a fair housing clinical program at HBCU,
historically black college or university in the United States,
and Howard was selected and the program was established.
So it's a very, very historic undertaking and it's been great.
You know, everything that has happened has been very,
very great.
It's slowly building up like more
and more people are hearing about it.
We started to get around the country,
[phonetic] different conferences participating
on a national level and things like that.
So it's been great.
It's very historic but very great.
>> And as a clinical program,
are there staff attorneys, students who serve?
>> Brian Gilmore: Yes.
These students, they're law students and they participate
in the clinical program like actually providing legal advice
and sometimes legal assistance to citizens in the area,
Washington and D.C. area.
And the students are -- they're the clinic.
I'm just the person who tells them this is what they
should do.
But the students, they talk to the residents.
They talk to the citizens.
They evaluate the cases.
They make decisions and I talk to them
about what they should do in certain kind of cases.
So it's a student-run clinic.
Yeah.
>> What are the key issues?
What are the main issues if there are any many issues
that you're seeing with D.C. tenants?
>> Probably the main issue right now is, as you know,
the thing is over -- this has completely taken
over everything.
It's the mortgage foreclosure crisis and the racial element
that was prevalent and that that it's coming out more and more
that African Americans
and Latinos were targeted for bad loans.
And these loans were pushed in them and a lot
of people are stuck with bad loans
and it's created a crisis now globally.
If you can believe that, I mean, a lot of people got bad loans
but African Americans disproportionately,
no matter what their wealth level was,
received these bad loans, these bad mortgage loans
that has created a crisis in the community;
and an affordable housing crisis
because people cannot afford houses and people can't --
the prices of houses are dropping now.
They shouldn't be dropping the way they are
but they are, and it's a crisis.
And what we are working with now we're working with a lot
of groups in the area in Montgomery County
and in PG County trying to get the word
out that you can do something and correct the problem now,
because certain laws that have been passed that will help you
out in the foreclosure situation.
And you can probably -- there's a chance you can fix it
but if you wait too long it's going to be bad.
Foreclosure is a real thing.
They will sell your house out from under you and put you out.
So you can fix it.
Don't think you can't.
So you should reach out and you can reach out to us
and if we can't help you,
we can give you somebody who can help you.
But that's the overarching problem on top
of various housing discrimination in the city,
in the area amongst tenants and for homeowners.
But that, the mortgage crisis, it's major as you see
from the news that it has --
it's threatening to collapse the entire financial system
of the world.
>> [Background crowd talking] And in terms of helping people
that are having the mortgage problems is what kind
of assistance is available?
Is it assistance with income?
Is it assistance with renegotiating their mortgages?
>> Brian Gilmore: Well,
it probably depends on where you are.
Maryland has been sort of out front,
the state of Maryland has been out front.
They've been passing some laws that actually help people
in the foreclosure process a little better
and they also have passed laws that have provided people
with bridge loans and things like that.
HUD has a program going
that will help people maybe renegotiate their loan.
But really, what it comes down to is, the people to have to get
in touch with somebody and take action?
There could be a program that could help you, or you could go
to your lender and try to do a loan modification
which is a complete change, give you loan,
try to maybe get your rate fixed and lock it in.
But you have to speak up.
We've been noticing a lot of people are too embarrassed
to say anything, but it can happen to almost anybody.
Nobody is a genius when it comes
to these complex financial transactions.
Even you see some of the some of the smartest people in the world
of going completely out of business, so that could tell you
that a lot of people got caught up in this.
So just get in touch with someone
and wherever you live get in touch with them,
and you can get some help on this.
>> Thank you, Brian Gilmore, for Howard University's School
of Law legal clinic program.
Thank you.
>> Brian Gilmore: Thanks a lot.
>> [Background music] We hope you enjoyed the conference.
For more information on the Office of the Tenant Advocate,
visit the website www.ota.dc.gov.
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