SECTION VII.
FAIR HOUSING SURVEYS
As part of the analysis, AREA developed three surveys to ascertain the perspective of
residents, municipalities, and real estate professionals on the subject of fair housing.
The surveys were distributed in both English and Spanish at client-facing agencies
(including the Lake County Health Department, placed on the County website), e-mailed
to various stakeholders by Prairie State Legal Services, and e-mailed by the County to
Lake County municipalities, nonprofit agencies, and real estate industry professionals. A
total of 636 surveys were returned: 80 municipalities surveys, 56 real estate
professionals surveys (including one in Spanish), and 500 resident surveys (including
14 in Spanish). This survey was intended only to provide input from a wide range of
stakeholders and is not statistically significant.
Additional details on survey responses are included as an appendix.
RESIDENT SURVEY FINDINGS
Of the 500 resident respondents, the highest number (96) identified Waukegan as the
community in which they lived. This was followed by Zion (37), Gurnee (34), Highland
Park (33), Mundelein (29), Round Lake Beach (25), and Grayslake and North Chicago
(24 each). Combined, these communities represent 60 percent of the survey
respondents. Nearly 67 percent of respondents have lived in Lake County for 10 years
or more. A large portion of the respondents own their home in Lake County (49.8
percent). The remaining respondents are renters (37.4 percent), live with family without
any housing payment (2.2 percent), live with family (2.8 percent), do not have a
permanent place of residence (4 percent), lived in supportive housing (0.2 percent), or
did not provide an answer (3.6 percent).
Most the respondents identified themselves as female (56.4 percent), and 28.6 percent
identified themselves as male. The remaining respondents declined to provide their
gender. The largest number of respondents was in the 50–59-year-old age cohort (21.6
percent), followed closely by the 30–39-year-old cohort (21.4 percent). Approximately
44 percent identified their race as White, 22.8 percent as African American, and 17.8
percent as Hispanic or Latino. Approximately 4 percent indicated that they are a person
with a disability, and an additional 4 percent indicated they have a household member
who is a person with a disability.
Of the 500 respondents, 451 responded to the question “Do you feel that housing
discrimination is common in Lake County?” A large percentage of respondents indicated
they did not know if housing discrimination is common. The responses are listed in the
following exhibit.
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APPLIED REAL ESTATE ANALYSIS, INC.
LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS