The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Wednesday that it is awarding $325,000 in grants to a Minneapolis group working to combat housing discrimination.

"These funds support community-based organizations that do great work every day on the front lines in the fight for fairness and equality in our nation's housing market," HUD Secretary Julián Castro said in a news release.

Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, which serves the working poor through several offices in 20 counties, was awarded the grant through the housing agency's Fair Housing Initiatives Program. The money is to be used to help educate "housing providers, local governments and potential victims of housing discrimination about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act."

The group will work in tandem with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services to ramp up Fair Housing Act enforcement in 53 southern and central Minnesota counties, officials said.

Legal Aid also plans to send a diverse mix of undercover buyers to landlords and brokers to check for discrimination.

Gina Rodriguez Berinde, a spokeswoman for HUD's Chicago office, said the group previously had received financial funding through the program.

The issue of housing discrimination has become a focus of Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, who campaigned on a platform of fighting inequality.

"The Fair Housing Initiatives Program provides the only federal grant support to private fair housing enforcement and education," said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD's assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity.

Velasquez's office and its partners investigate nearly 9,000 housing discrimination complaints a year.

"Dispersed throughout the country, these grants enable our partner agencies to stand beside us in the fight against housing discrimination, and we couldn't do it without them," Velasquez said.

Libor Jany • 612-673-4064 Twitter:@StribJany