Fair Housing Rights & Responsibilities

Project Sentinel also provides assistance with investigation related to housing discrimination in the City of Sunnyvale.  This service is offered at no cost to Sunnyvale residents.  The agency will intake the fair housing call, investigate the complaint and advise the tenant on the available options.  They provide attorney referral service that accepts cases in which evidence has been secured.  Please contact Project Sentinel at (888)324-7468 for more information or visit their website at www.housing.org  

Code Violations

If you are a tenant having difficulty getting your landlord or on-site manager to expedite needed repairs on your apartment, you can contact the City Neighborhood Preservation Division to have an inspector make an on-site visit to investigate the problem and work with your landlord to resolve it. Contact the Neighborhood Preservation Division by phone at (408) 730-7610 or e-mail the City Inspector at npp@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us.

"File a Housing Discrimination Complaint."

Recently HUD added a new feature to its Web site that makes it easier for an individual to file a fair housing complaint.  Now, residents or prospects who feel they've been discriminated against can simply log on to the HUD Web site and fill out a fair housing complaint.

According to HUD, all complaints filed on the HUD Web site are electronically sent to the intake branch at whichever of the 10 HUD regional offices has jurisdiction over the area where the alleged act of discrimination occurred.  HUD's intake branch then has 20 days to review the complaint and determine whether it has the right elements for a fair housing complaint, explains a source at HUD.  During that time, it may contact the complaining party to clarify any aspect of the complaint that it has questions about, he adds.

If HUD's intake branch finds that there are enough facts to constitute a fair housing claim, it will give the claim an official HUD complaint number and send the claim to HUD's investigation branch.  From there, the complaint is treated like any other fair housing complaint.  Copies of the complaint are sent to both parties, and the party accused of the fair housing complaint.  Copies of the complaint are sent to both parties, and the party accused of the fair housing violation must respond to the complaint within 10 days.  Log onto www.hud.gov, under the section "at your service," click on the line that reads, "File a housing discrimination complaint."