Resolution Calling for Hearings on Discrimination Against Holders of Housing Choice Vouchers
WHEREAS, Over thirty thousand families in Chicago use a Housing Choice voucher (formerly known as Section 8 voucher) to ensure they pay only thirty percent of their income; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago passed the Fair Housing Ordinance in 1990, ensuring source of income protection for voucher holders; and
WHEREAS, Chicago, Cook County and dozens of local governments nation-wide provide source of income protections; and
WHEREAS, Despite these protections, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations reports that voucher holders continue to face discrimination in Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Testing conducted by the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law in association with HOPE Fair Housing Center, Open Communities and Suburban Housing Center find that source of income discrimination remains a regular occurrence for all voucher holders, but especially for African Americans and people with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, A 2015 WBEZ radio story about source of income discrimination in Chicago and Cook County raised the profile of this issue and illuminated the direct and indirect forms of discrimination potential tenants face; and
WHEREAS, discrimination denies voucher holders access to quality affordable housing in so-called Areas of Opportunity, concentrating them in high-poverty, high-crime neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, Finding an new place to live is already a stressful endeavor without the having to worry about unlawful discrimination; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and Members ofthe City Council ofthe City of Chicago, assembled this eighteenth day of May, 2016, do hereby urge the City of Chicago, the Chicago Housing Authority, housing advocates, landlord advocates and other stakeholders to work toward solutions that will fulfill the law and end the practice of discrimination against holders of Housing Choice Vouchers and that the City...
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