HOUSING ADVISORY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Concur with the Fair Housing Complaint Review Panel’s determination to dismiss Fair Housing Complaint FH1702.
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation, Engineering and Development
SUBMITTED BY: Kasey Evans, AICP
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
The Fair Housing Complaint Review Panel considered this matter on January 23, 2018 and recommended dismissal of Fair Housing Complaint FH1702 (Taylor v. CHAD).
BACKGROUND:
The City received a fair housing complaint in November 2017 (FH1702; Taylor v. CHAD). Following the initial submittal of the fair housing complaint form, the complainant submitted a substantial amount of information; and the respondent subsequently provided a lengthy response to the alleged fair housing violation. At the January 8, 2018 Housing Advisory Commission meeting the Commission selected 3 Commissioners to serve on the Fair Housing Complaint Review Panel in order to review complaint FH1702. The Review Panel is comprised of 3 Housing Advisory Commissioners with the purpose of reviewing fair housing complaints and reporting the panel’s proceedings to the Housing Advisory Commission.
DISCUSSION:
The Review Panel reviewed more than 300 pages of documentation submitted by both the Complainant (Ms. Taylor) and Respondent (CHAD) landlord, and discussed the Complaint. All review panel members participated in the discussion and came to a consensus on the following issues:
§ No additional information was needed due to the amount of documents the were provided by both parties.
§ There was no evidence to support Complainant’s allegation that repairs requested but not completed by Respondent were related to Complainant’s alleged disability and no evidence the repairs requested were needed to accommodate any alleged disability.
§ DuPage Housing Authority inspects all rental units using housing vouchers yearly to make sure they meet minimum standards. If the unit does not meet DuPage Housing Authority’s minimum Housing Quality Standards during the initial or annual inspection, the landlord is required to make any repairs to the unit necessary to bring it into compliance, or the landlord may not be allowed to rent the unit to a Housing Choice Voucher tenant. The Respondent provided evidence that it was responsive to the Complainant’s requests for repair and maintenance.
§ There were non-discriminatory reasons for the rent increase, including location and size of unit, comparable units, market rate, and approval of rate by DuPage Housing Authority.
§ Communication between both the Respondent and Complainant could have been better.
§ Complainant has a pending complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights against CHAD, Complainant sought and received legal representation through Prairie State Legal Services regarding her lease with CHAD, and CHAD has a pending forcible detainer action against Complainant.
Based upon these findings, the committee determined the Complaint was without merit and recommends dismissal of the Complaint to the Housing Advisory Commission. If the Housing Advisory Commission concurs with the Review Panel’s determination, then the complaint shall be dismissed by the Commission. If the complaint is not dismissed, then the Commission shall proceed to a hearing on the complaint in accordance with the provisions of the Fair Housing Ordinance.