Fair Housing

What is old is new as HB 2775 is signed into law by Illinois Governor

by

Section 8 protections expanded House Bill 2775 was signed into law on May 23, 2022.  The law, introduced by Representative La Shawn K. Ford, amends the Illinois Human Rights Act by prohibiting source of income discrimination in real estate transaction under the State’s fair housing laws.  This change brings the entire State of Illinois into … Read more

Richard Magnone to speak on Just Housing Ordinance

by

I’m excited to have the opportunity to speak at the joint meeting of the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance, the Community Investment Corporation, and the Northwest Side Building Coalition at their “Lunch & Learn” event on the Just Housing Ordinance on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM.  More information can be found here.

Read more

HUD guidance on Assistance Animals – a Breakdown

by

Assistance Animals are no Joke

Have you heard the one about the landlord who wanted to ban pets in her building?  Her tenant thought that one was hilarious!  You don’t think that’s funny?  You must be a landlord.  Because of massive abuse on the part of tenants, on January 28, 2020, HUD issued long-awaited new guidance on a tenant’s right to have an animal as a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act.  We had heard that new guidance was coming.  Unfortunately, this guidance tells us a lot that we already knew and doesn’t provide the kind of help to curb abuse that we were looking for.  Let’s take a closer look.

Read more

County Releases Additional Information on Just Housing Amendment

by

Better than Nothing

Well, we had heard rumors that the County was going to release some additional guidance on the application of the Just Housing Amendment in practice.  Earlier this week, they did just that.  The materials do not clear up many of the questions plaguing those of us “on the ground” and some of the information in the materials is contrary to the actual verbiage in the rules (so landlords need to carefully evaluate these materials).  We will try to discuss some of this in the coming days.  In the meantime, here is a link to the Cook County Human Rights Commission’s

Read more

HUD issues new guidance on Support Animals

by

Some Tenants Ruin it For the Disabled This afternoon, HUD issued new guidance for landlords in regard to support animals with respect to Fair Housing and reasonable accommodations.  Unfortunately, landlords regularly report fraud on the part of renters who don’t really need an emotional support animal but who don’t like being told “no” by landlords … Read more

Cook County Just Housing Ordinance Goes Live 1/1/2020

by

Are you ready for this?

I have discussed, at length, on this page, the criminal background check rules contained in the Cook County Just Housing Amendment to the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance and why they are flawed and fairly ridiculous.  Cook County has passed their final set of rules and they will go into effect at midnight on December 31, 2019.  That means that landlords throughout Cook County need to be aware of and in compliance with these rules beginning then if they want to do a criminal background check.

Read more

Cook County Issues Yet Another Set of Just Housing Rules

by

Cook County Landlord Rules for Criminal Background Checks

The Cook County Board of Commissioners released a new set of rules on October 23, 2019 to implement the Just Housing Amendment to the Cook County Housing Ordinance.  This set of rules is basically a rejection of a number of landlord suggested modifications.  The County went with a pro-tenant version.  Distilled down to its essence, under the Just Housing Amendment, a landlord cannot run a criminal background check until after following a number of procedural steps. 

Read more

Alderman Propose Chicago Landlords Protect Immigrants

by

City makes landlords bear the brunt of “Sanctuary City” status It was reported in the Chicago Sun Times last week that Chicago would impose obligations on landlords to help illegal immigrants affected by the Trump executive order repealing DACA. Last Wednesday, Aldermen Mell and Ramirez-Rosa proposed an ordinance that “declares Chicago apartment buildings as sanctuary … Read more

Amendment to Chicago Fair Housing approved by Committee on Human Relations and new tenant right to claim retaliation

by

veteran status and fair housing ChicagoLaw expands protected class to veterans and adds right to retaliation claim for any fair housing proceeding

Yesterday, the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Human Relations approved an amendment to the Chicago Fair Housing and Human Rights Ordinance proposed by Mayor Emanuel making military status a protected class.  The intent of the amendment is to prohibit discrimination against members of the military in housing and employment.  The text of the original amendment as proposed can be found on the website of the City Clerk.  Based upon reports from the Chicago Sun Times, there were changes made to the original amendment before it was approved but those are not yet available online.

Read more