Dakotas’ only fair housing organization hopes crucial grant arrives by Sept. 1

The only fair housing organization in the Dakotas is holding on until Sept. 1 for a key federal grant to arrive or it will furlough some of its staff.

The North Dakota-based High Plains Fair Housing Center has been awaiting the $425,000 Fair Housing Initiatives Program grant since May. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded the three-year grant in 2023, but the third installment hasn’t shown up.

Center Executive Director Michelle Rydz said North Dakota’s congressional delegation is working to help address the grant funding, prompting the center’s board to delay furloughing staff. Rydz said Friday HUD can’t start the grant before Aug. 15, but the timing is still unclear.

“We don’t have a definitive date, and so that is still stressful for half the staff,” she said, noting that other organizations in the U.S. are in the same situation.

The Grand Forks-headquartered center expects to furlough four of its eight staff if the grant doesn’t arrive. Seven employees are full-time; one is part-time. The center anticipated furloughing workers as early as July 31, but operations continue as usual. Rydz has been doing fundraising to help the center stay afloat. 

Gap in federal grant money threatens North Dakota’s only fair-housing organization

The center assists people within the scope of the federal Fair Housing Act, which prohibits people from being treated differently because of a protected characteristic, including race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability. The center investigates, mediates and resolves housing discrimination complaints, and assists with accommodations.

In 2025, the center fielded 958 total calls, more than one-third of which related to allegations of housing discrimination. The others dealt with landlord-tenant matters or general inquiries.

The center reached 204 resolutions for clients, about half of which were done without having to file a complaint.

In the last year and a half, the center has handled about 100 calls in South Dakota, which has no related organization, Rydz said. The center had a HUD grant that ended recently and was specifically for working with South Dakota organizations and educating people about the Fair Housing Act with the ultimate goal of a fair housing group emerging there, she said.

“The way the grant is set up now, it doesn’t look like there’s that possibility for a new organization to step into a fair housing role, so we are doing some fundraising in South Dakota and certainly trying to assist South Dakota as much as possible when they have a fair housing issue,” Rydz said.

If the grant comes through, the center will keep handling South Dakota calls, she said.

North Dakota Monitor reporter Jack Dura can be reached at [email protected].