Although the County has an agreement with PSLS to provide fair housing services, this
agreement is funded in part by CDBG funds and requires new funding applications each
year. Consequently, the County’s fair housing program manager could change each
year.
Recommended Action for Impediment 6
Develop a long-term plan for receiving and addressing housing
discrimination complaints. In the short term, the County should create and
document a complaint process that would include reporting requirements. This
process should then be incorporated into the agreement for the fair housing
program manager. The agreement should also indicate that detailed reports and
a copy of the database must be submitted to the County on a quarterly basis.
In the long term, the County should enter into a multiyear agreement with an
organization to receive and address housing discrimination complaints.
Impediment 7.
There is limited information on fair housing on the Lake
County website.
The County’s current website does not have information on fair housing including
information on housing rights, as well as links to forms for submitting housing
discrimination complaints.
Recommended Actions for Impediment 7
Update the County fair housing website. The current website has extremely
limited information on fair housing. The County should update the website with
the following information:
o Basic information on fair housing, including protected classes and the real
estate transactions protected by the federal Fair Housing Act, Illinois Human
Rights Act, and the Lake County ordinance, once passed.
o Contact information for PSLS, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity, and the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
o Flyers and posters on fair housing (available from PSLS and HUD).
o Fair housing best practice documents, including samples of fair housing plans
for municipalities.
o Fair housing events planned by the County as well as other organizations.
The website should be accessible by persons with visual impairments as well as
those with limited English proficiency. Municipalities across the country have
utilized Google Translate, a free tool, for their websites.
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