fair housing choice. The established guidelines would be listed on the certification
form.
Continue to review Lake County zoning and building codes. AREA identified no
impediments in the County’s current UDO and the County should continue its
practice of monitoring its zoning and building codes for currency and to ensure that
they do not limit housing choice for members of a protected class.
Consider revising the definition of assisted living in the Lake County Unified
Development Ordinance (UDO). The current definition of “assisted living” 41 in the
UDO should be revised to match the definition in the Illinois Compiled Statues (210
ILCS 9/5), which is in line with the definition of assisted living used by the senior
housing industry.
Impediment 5.
There is not a dedicated Lake County staff person responsible
for fair housing.
Although the County has a written agreement in place for the management of its fair
housing program, there is not a County staff person who is responsible for monitoring
and coordinating fair housing compliance.
Recommendation Action for Impediment 5
Create a fair housing liaison responsibility. If the County elects to continue
agreements with outside organizations for managing the fair housing program,
the County needs a fair housing liaison who is a County staff person. This liaison
would maintain housing complaint forms for HUD and the Illinois Department of
Human Rights. Any housing discrimination complaints or concerns expressed to
a County staff person would be referred to the liaison. The liaison would track the
number of referrals made to the County’s fair housing program manager
(currently PSLS). The liaison would also review the quarterly fair housing
program reports and monitor the status of actions recommend in the AI. If either
the County’s HUD-funded administrative budget does not currently allow or its
workload does not justify the addition of a full-time staff person, an existing job
description should be amended to include fair housing activities. It is
recommended that the fair housing liaison position be housed within the
Community Development team.
Impediment 6.
41
There is not a long-term process in place for receiving and
addressing housing discrimination complaints.
“Residential occupancy of a structure by a group of people who do not meet the definition of “Household
Living. Examples include dormitories, fraternities, sororities, monasteries and convents.” Households are
defined as “Any of the following: (1) Two or more persons related to one another by blood, marriage, or
legal adoption, living together as a single housekeeping unit in a dwelling unit; or (2) up to four unrelated
persons living together as a single housekeeping unit in a single dwelling unit; or (3) up to eight persons
with physical or developmental disabilities and attendant support staff living together as a single
housekeeping unit in a single dwelling unit.”
APPLIED REAL ESTATE ANALYSIS, INC.
130
LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS