NEOC forwards agreement to HUD for review
OMAHA — The Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, facing a looming federal deadline, hurried Friday afternoon to work out an agreement with the state attorney general’s office.
NEOC officials forwarded the agreement late Friday to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD officials will review it next week, and let the NEOC know whether it is acceptable, said HUD spokeswoman Dale Gray.
The commission, which met here Friday morning, talked for nearly two hours about its next steps to address Attorney General Jon Bruning’s continuing refusal to handle discrimination cases forwarded by the commission, including those involving undocumented immigrants.
The commission said it would try again to try to reach an agreement before considering legal action.
NEOC Executive Director Anne Hobbs got feedback Friday from HUD on a draft of the agreement. A letter from Myrtle Wilson, regional director of HUD’s fair housing office, listed 10 concerns or deficiencies in the draft agreement — including failure of the draft to address Bruning’s refusal to handle the cases of undocumented immigrants. Wilson said the agreement must address those cases, requiring either that Bruning handle them or that another viable option be set out.
One option discussed by the commission would be to rely on a bank of volunteer lawyers to take those cases.
“We’re talking about a long shot” on whether that would be acceptable to HUD, Hobbs said. “It’s not completely impossible, but a long shot. It’s always worth trying.”
The revised agreement sent Friday still did not appear to address the issue of how to handle cases brought by illegal immigrants.
“I don’t know whether it addresses it,” Hobbs said.
She pointed to a sentence in the agreement that says: in cases in which Bruning’s office says its resources are insufficient to pursue a case, NEOC can refer the case to an NEOC-contracted attorney who would agree to handle it for no charge.
Chief Deputy Attorney General David Cookson had said during Friday’s meeting the attorney general’s office would have a problem recovering financial damages in cases involving undocumented immigrants.
If the federal agency continues to have problems with the proposed agreement, Hobbs and commission chairman Arnold Nesbitt will confer by telephone Thursday with HUD and the attorney general’s office.
The commission set a meeting for May 23 in Lincoln to discuss with outside attorneys any potential legal remedies to the disagreement, if needed. The Lincoln firm of Vince Powers and Associates, and at least three other law firms, have offered to help the NEOC if its negotiations with Bruning fail.
In the meantime, Nesbitt said, any citizen could file legal action.
One commissioner, Kristin Yates, was ready Friday to consider legal action.
“I don’t think we can abide this situation any longer,” she said. “I don’t see that the language of the (agreement) is going to solve the problem.”
People who have discrimination claims, the agency and its employees are all being hurt, she said.
Commission member J.L. Spray said the law does not authorize the commission to sue the attorney general.
At the same time, commission members said, Bruning is not following the law in refusing to take those cases.
HUD has given Bruning and the NEOC until May 24 to settle their differences. The federal agency already has prohibited the NEOC from taking housing discrimination cases — requiring it to refer any cases to HUD — and as of Friday the agency had lost $96,000 in HUD payments on 40 cases.
Without an acceptable agreement, HUD could suspend the agency for 180 days, which could lead to an elimination of HUD’s contract with the NEOC, Hobbs said.
“One of the frustrating things here,” said NEOC chairman Nesbitt, “is we’re fighting a battle when we didn’t start the war.”
Hobbs told the commission Friday the staff is “extremely distressed” and the public is losing confidence in the agency with every day that goes by.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, NEOC investigator Lisa Euchner addressed the commission, tearfully telling them about 14 of the new cases lost by the state agency in the past 30 days.
One case involved a man in a debilitating condition surrounded by stairs. She couldn’t help him, she said, other than to tell him to call HUD, which has no local office he could go to to explain his case and show an investigator photos of the stairs he faces every day.
“I implore the commission not to wait,” she said. “I apologize for getting emotional. But this is my job and I can’t do it.”
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.
NEOC officials forwarded the agreement late Friday to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD officials will review it next week, and let the NEOC know whether it is acceptable, said HUD spokeswoman Dale Gray.
The commission, which met here Friday morning, talked for nearly two hours about its next steps to address Attorney General Jon Bruning’s continuing refusal to handle discrimination cases forwarded by the commission, including those involving undocumented immigrants.
The commission said it would try again to try to reach an agreement before considering legal action.
NEOC Executive Director Anne Hobbs got feedback Friday from HUD on a draft of the agreement. A letter from Myrtle Wilson, regional director of HUD’s fair housing office, listed 10 concerns or deficiencies in the draft agreement — including failure of the draft to address Bruning’s refusal to handle the cases of undocumented immigrants. Wilson said the agreement must address those cases, requiring either that Bruning handle them or that another viable option be set out.
One option discussed by the commission would be to rely on a bank of volunteer lawyers to take those cases.
“We’re talking about a long shot” on whether that would be acceptable to HUD, Hobbs said. “It’s not completely impossible, but a long shot. It’s always worth trying.”
The revised agreement sent Friday still did not appear to address the issue of how to handle cases brought by illegal immigrants.
“I don’t know whether it addresses it,” Hobbs said.
She pointed to a sentence in the agreement that says: in cases in which Bruning’s office says its resources are insufficient to pursue a case, NEOC can refer the case to an NEOC-contracted attorney who would agree to handle it for no charge.
Chief Deputy Attorney General David Cookson had said during Friday’s meeting the attorney general’s office would have a problem recovering financial damages in cases involving undocumented immigrants.
If the federal agency continues to have problems with the proposed agreement, Hobbs and commission chairman Arnold Nesbitt will confer by telephone Thursday with HUD and the attorney general’s office.
The commission set a meeting for May 23 in Lincoln to discuss with outside attorneys any potential legal remedies to the disagreement, if needed. The Lincoln firm of Vince Powers and Associates, and at least three other law firms, have offered to help the NEOC if its negotiations with Bruning fail.
In the meantime, Nesbitt said, any citizen could file legal action.
One commissioner, Kristin Yates, was ready Friday to consider legal action.
“I don’t think we can abide this situation any longer,” she said. “I don’t see that the language of the (agreement) is going to solve the problem.”
People who have discrimination claims, the agency and its employees are all being hurt, she said.
Commission member J.L. Spray said the law does not authorize the commission to sue the attorney general.
At the same time, commission members said, Bruning is not following the law in refusing to take those cases.
HUD has given Bruning and the NEOC until May 24 to settle their differences. The federal agency already has prohibited the NEOC from taking housing discrimination cases — requiring it to refer any cases to HUD — and as of Friday the agency had lost $96,000 in HUD payments on 40 cases.
Without an acceptable agreement, HUD could suspend the agency for 180 days, which could lead to an elimination of HUD’s contract with the NEOC, Hobbs said.
“One of the frustrating things here,” said NEOC chairman Nesbitt, “is we’re fighting a battle when we didn’t start the war.”
Hobbs told the commission Friday the staff is “extremely distressed” and the public is losing confidence in the agency with every day that goes by.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, NEOC investigator Lisa Euchner addressed the commission, tearfully telling them about 14 of the new cases lost by the state agency in the past 30 days.
One case involved a man in a debilitating condition surrounded by stairs. She couldn’t help him, she said, other than to tell him to call HUD, which has no local office he could go to to explain his case and show an investigator photos of the stairs he faces every day.
“I implore the commission not to wait,” she said. “I apologize for getting emotional. But this is my job and I can’t do it.”
Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.
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