Steve Tomkowiak serves as Executive Director of the Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit. The Fair Housing Center is one of the oldest fair housing centers in the nation. Prior to serving as Executive Director, Mr. Tomkowiak has close to thirty years’ experience specializing in the litigation and trial of mortgage lending and fair housing cases. Mr. Tomkowiak obtained federal court jury verdicts of $130,000 and $700,000 under the Fair Housing Act in residential mortgage lending discrimination cases. These are believed to be the first two successful jury verdicts under the Fair Housing Act involving residential lending discrimination and the first court decisions approving of mortgage lending testing.

Tomkowiak serves as a course developer and instructor with HUD’s National Fair Housing Training Academy based on Washington, D.C. He has drafted Academy training course materials on litigating fair housing cases, mortgage lending discrimination, predatory lending. He has also written on fair housing law and litigation, including Using Testing Evidence in Mortgage Lending Discrimination Cases, 41 Urban Lawyer 319 (Spring 2009); Using Community Planning and Public Accommodations Laws to Address Racial Disparities in Health Outcomes—Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic (Federal Bar Association Civil Rights Insider - Summer 2020); and The Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Theory of Liability: A Viable but Underutilized Tool for Combatting Policies that Cause Adverse Effects and the Perpetuation of Segregation (March 2022).

Tomkowiak has spoken and trained on fair housing and fair lending, including HUD policy conferences, the UIC John Marshall Law School, and various regional, state, and local conferences throughout the nation. Tomkowiak is also a frequent trainer for housing providers; management companies; realtors; lending institutions; private, municipal, and legal services attorneys; municipalities; homeowners; and tenants.