HUD, Hewlett Packard Create Fair Housing App for Consumers, Professionals

""HUD"":http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD unveiled on Thursday an ""app for iPhone and iPad devices"":https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/housing-discrimination-complaint/id570755695?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2 designed to provide the public and the housing industry with a quick and easy way to learn about the Fair Housing Act and to file discrimination complaints.

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The app, developed by HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity and ""Hewlett Packard"":http://www8.hp.com/us/en/home.html (HP), is already being promoted by fair housing groups and other civil rights advocacy organizations as a tool to help consumers pursue their housing rights. In addition, industry groups--including the Asian Real Estate Association of America, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers--are promoting the app to their members to educate them about their fair housing responsibilities.

In addition to providing information and facilitating real-time delivery of discrimination complaints, the app can be used by individuals researching their housing rights after a natural disaster, when power outages make mobile technology the only way to access the Internet.

""Having this first fair housing mobile application equips people everywhere with the information they need to combat housing discrimination,"" said John Trasvi├âãÆ├é┬▒a, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. ""We are maximizing the latest technology to make the process for filing fair housing complaints faster and easier and arming our fair housing partners with the information they need to understand their fair housing rights and responsibilities.""

The app was unveiled during the 3rd Annual MobileGov Summit in Washington, D.C., a conference bringing government and industry information technology leaders together to discuss the latest trends and best practices for creating the next generation mobile government workforce.

""HUD needed an efficient and reliable solution to quickly extend existing capabilities to mobile computing devices,"" said Marilyn Crouther, SVP and general manager, U.S. Public Sector, HP Enterprise Services. ""The new HP application achieves operational goals of HUD--from concept to deployment--while more effectively addressing discrimination complaints. The mobile app simplifies and increases access to government services for people.""