The Impact of Housing Needs on Metro Chicago Discussed April 13
How housing needs are impacting the Chicago metropolitan area were addressed at an all-day program on Tuesday, April 13, as a United States delegation gathered information for a United Nations (UN) report on human rights.
The program was hosted by The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Support Center and Housing Action Illinois.
Representatives from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the US Department of State, and the US Department of Justice gathered information at the hearing for use when the United States submits its report to the United Nations Human Rights Council as part of the UN’s periodic review of a country’s human rights record.
The program opened with a panel discussion on “Discrimination in Public and Subsidized Housing in the Chicago Metropolitan Area” with participants outlining various efforts to reduce segregation, and the effects of discrimination against various ethnic groups and those who use Section 8 housing vouchers. Speakers outlined efforts to preserve or develop accessible and supportive housing.
An afternoon panel focused on “The Role of Discrimination in Contributing to the Present Crisis in Lending and Foreclosures in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.” Discussants outlined foreclosure rates and the destabilizing impact they have in the region; unfair lending practices; measures that are and are not being taken to counter the loss of homes; the impact of foreclosures on desegregation efforts and the destabilization of Chicago’s neighborhoods; and the impact of foreclosures on homelessness.
Other panelists addressed “The Problem of Homelessness in the Chicago Metropolitan Region” and “Discrimination in the Private Market in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.” Topics covered included segregated housing and its effect on health, education and other essential indicators; refusals to rent and sell; racial and ethnic steering; advertising and the impact of the Internet; and problems faced by private developers in locating and building integrated low-income and affordable housing in the Chicago metropolitan area.
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