Fair Housing Center aims to aid residents - Mortgage, insurance, credit questions

Katrina victims struggling with mortgage issues can get help from the Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center. In cooperation with the National Fair Housing Alliance, the center has launched the Hurricane Relief Project to help make sure homeowners have fair and equitable access to insurance and mortgage products.

Executive Director Toshja Brown said the center can help with many issues, including unsettled insurance claims, deferments, prepayment penalties, derogatory credit reports and homeowner-grant reconciliations.

"We want to take some of the burden off," said Brown.

The center will also try to help homeowners faced with foreclosure and help protect residents from predatory lending schemes.

Brown said the center also has begun conducting research to see if insurance rates are disproportionate for some people protected under the Fair Housing Act.

The Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center is a private, nonprofit organization established by the National Fair Housing Alliance and a group of concerned Gulf Coast residents in 2003.