the County’s compliance with federal and state fair housing laws, executive
orders related to fair housing and other HUD policies as they develop.
Develop a fair housing ordinance. If adopted, a fair housing policy statement
could then be used as the basis for developing a fair housing ordinance
containing a protocol for reporting complaints of fair housing violations to
investigative authorities. A fair housing ordinance typically includes:
o Definition of the protected classes. At a minimum, the protected classes
should include the classes outlined in the Illinois Human Rights Act.
o Types of real estate transactions that are subject to the ordinance.
o Identification of the entity responsible for receiving ordinance violation
complaints.
o Identification of the entity responsible for investigating the complaint.
o Municipalities and home rule counties may adopt an ordinance which sets
forth an adjudicative process and fines for violations; however, non-home rule
counties do not have that authority. The County of Lake is not a home rule
county. Pursuant to the Illinois Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5/1-101 et. seq.)
the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) has the power to investigate
complaints of fair housing violations and if founded files charges against the
responsible individuals and entities with the Illinois Human Commission and
the Illinois Circuit Courts. Therefore a protocol should be adopted for
notifying the public in Lake County that any fair housing complaints made to
the County will be promptly forwarded to the IDHR for investigation. Similarly,
the protocol should include contemporaneous notification to HUD of
complaints of fair housing violations.
Impediment 3.
Developments that require permitting are not asked to
demonstrate any actions taken to affirmatively further fair
housing.
Although the Lake County Consortium requires an affirmative market policy for rental
and homebuyer projects containing five or more federally assisted units, it is important
to note that the responsibility to provide equal access to housing is not limited to
properties that are designated as affordable.
Recommended Actions for Impediment 3
The building permit and/or zoning approval process can be an opportunity to
encourage developers specifically to seek out members of the protected classes
and encourages these households to consider renting or purchasing in the
developer’s project through actions such as:
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APPLIED REAL ESTATE ANALYSIS, INC.
LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS