The website will only have value if the content is relevant and updated on a
regular basis.
Impediment 8.
The County government does not maintain a comprehensive
log of incidents of discrimination that occur within the County.
While PSLS submits case and discrimination complaint information to the County on a
quarterly basis, HUD and the State of Illinois maintain information on housing
discrimination complaints and concerns that the County does not receive on a regular
basis.
Recommended Actions for Impediment 8
Collect information on discrimination complaints on a regular basis. The
proposed fair housing liaison should compile and review complaints from HUD
and IDHR on a quarterly basis. The information should be analyzed to identify if
there are any trends in the types of complaints or the location of the complaints.
A quarterly summary report should be developed and distributed to Lake County
municipalities and the Community Development Administrator.
Impediment 9.
CDBG, HOME, and ESG funding applicants are not required to
provide information on the applicants’ efforts to affirmatively
further fair housing.
Municipalities and organizations that receive HUD funding from Lake County are not
currently required to submit any information indicating that they are affirmatively
furthering fair housing during the application process, although they are required to
adhere to non-discriminatory best practices during the administration of the grant.
According to the HUD website, “HUD is charged by law to implement and enforce”
federal fair housing laws, “not only for members of the public in search of fair housing,
but for HUD funded grant recipients as well”42; the requirement to affirmatively further
fair housing flows to all entities that receive HUD funding, including municipalities that
receive funding through the County.
Because of the limited focus on fair housing by the County, there is increased exposure
to the possibility that these funding recipients are not actively furthering fair housing.
Recommended Actions for Impediment 9
42
Implement fair housing activity application requirements for funding
recipients. The Chicago Alliance for Fair Housing has developed
recommendations for funding application data requirements for other Illinois HUD
funding recipients. AREA recommends that the County incorporate at least some
of these requirements into its funding applications. Under these requirements,
each applicant shall:
At www.hud.gov, go to HUD > Program Offices > Fair Housing > Promoting Fair Housing.
APPLIED REAL ESTATE ANALYSIS, INC.
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LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS