Submitted By
Jonathan Burch, Assistant Village Manager/Neighborhood Services Director
Reviewed By
A.M. Zayyad, Deputy Village Manager
Agenda Item Title
Title
A Presentation and Discussion of the Village's Fair Housing Testing Project
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Overview
Overview
In spring 2024 the Village completed work with Hope Fair Housing on a fair housing testing project. Staff have worked since that time to develop a plan of how to address the fair housing issues identified in that report. This presentation will cover the results of the fair housing testing and staff's recommended responses.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Village undertake the following steps in response to the results of the fair housing testing.
* Amend Section 12-2 Residential Rental License
* Change the Village's approach to housing provider training
* Enhance tenant resources
* Start the Fair Housing Coalition
* Future testing/training
Background
In 2023, the Village entered into a contract with Hope Fair Housing to conduct fair housing testing about anti-discrimination protections on the basis of Source of Income (SOI) and arrest or conviction records in Oak Park. Hope prepared a report that summarized the results of that testing as follows.
* Each investigation revealed evidence of Source of Income discrimination.
* HOPE could only determine how one housing provider assessed conviction records.
* No housing provider could share details about their policy or how a record would impact an application when asked.
Based on these findings, Hope made recommendations to the Village in four buckets.
* Transparency of tenant qualification criteria - The Village should consider requiring all rental housing providers to post their application criteria on their website, linked in their listings, and in leasing offices.
* Fair housing education and outreach for housing providers - Housing providers need more training regarding source of income protections, housing choice vo...
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