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2023 Fair Housing Month: Activities and Resources

April is Fair Housing Month!

Idaho Fair Housing Forum members are gearing up for April, and we’d like to share a few activities and resources below with our partners and community stakeholders. While fair housing and related laws apply every day, each year we join with others to draw attention to the rights, responsibilities and economic benefits of housing choice and equity.

States and communities that receive federal funds—particularly from HUD—are required to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) in several ways. The AFFH requirements include, “taking meaningful actions, in addition to combating discrimination, that overcome patterns of segregation and foster inclusive communities free from barriers that restrict access to opportunity based on protected characteristics.”

Meaningful actions accomplish two key outcomes:

  • more fair housing choice
  • reducing disparities in access to opportunity

Forum partners typically pursue these outcomes through partnerships that increase awareness of fair housing law through conferences, sponsored training opportunities, and outreach materials. HUD program administrators must also demonstrate concrete steps taken to ensure that subrecipients of HUD funds are pursuing AFFH practices that support equity in programs, activities, resources and facilities.

In the case of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds at the state level, Idaho Commerce requires the following AFFH actions of all sub recipients

  • Designate a Fair Housing Resource Person
  • Adopt and publish a Fair Housing Resolution
  • Proclaim April as Fair Housing Month
  • Display Fair Housing Information
  • Fair Housing Assessment Form

Activities

Fair Housing Accessibility First! training events

Date Topic Session 1 Session 2 Registration
02/28/23 Kitchens 8–9:30am 12–1:30pm Register
03/14/23 Grab Bars 8–9:30am 12-1:30pm Register
03/21/23 Usable Doors 8–9:30am 12-1:30pm Register
04/04/23 Controls in Accessible 8–9:30am 12-1:30pm Register

All times are Mountain. Contact  to schedule training.

Resources for partners and communities

Fair Housing Month Proclamations: Sample language

Free Education and Outreach Materials. IHFA produced a series of fair housing materials as part of its FHIP-EOI grant in 2020 and 2021. Print materials and videos are available at no cost on request.

Additional background and resources that help put AFFH requirements in context:

  • Segregated by Design This short film tracks the “forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy.”
  • Seven Days Award-winning film by Nationwide Insurance and the National Fair Housing Alliance chronicles daily events between the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King April 4, 1968 and passage of the Fair Housing Act April 11, 1968
  • House Rules This collaborative journalism project describes how where we live determines our access to essential community assets, economic opportunity and social capital. And it looks at the role and fate of George Romney, the first individual charged with implementing the Fair Housing Act.
  • 2022-2027 AI: What cities and counties should know about fair housing (pending) Broad-brush overview of important context and concepts for Idaho communities to understand, with references to the most recent Statewide Analysis of Impediments covering Idaho’s non-entitlement (balance of state) jurisdictions served by Idaho Commerce and IHFA.

Fair Housing Training: Equal Access

Thursday, December 15th at 9am – 3pm

Boise City Hall

Our Path Home is honored to partner with Intermountain Fair Housing Council (IFHC) to provide an in-depth training on Fair Housing: Equal Access presented by Zoe Ann Olsen the Executive Director at the IFHC.

REGISTER HERE

During the Equal Access Training you will gain an understanding of Fair Housing Basics, Equal Access Rules, and Reasonable Accommodations/Modifications. Practical Training Scenarios and a Q&A Session will also be included to ensure a deep understanding of material. This training is recommended to anyone who owns, operates, or manages shelter and other facilities and providers of service funded by any HUD CPD program.  

In this training, you will learn about the 2016 Equal Access Rule that requires recipients of HUD’s CPD funding to grant equal access to such facilities and services in accordance with the individuals gender identity that affords equal access to individuals family. You will also partake in training scenarios, implementations of equal access rule, and be provided examples of anti-discrimination policies and HUD LGBTQ+ Homelessness Resources.

Zoe Ann Olson has been with IFHC for over a decade. She has extensive housing law experience including the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Idaho State housing law, reasonable accommodations and modifications, litigation concerning the FHA, public housing cases, wrongful evictions, repairs, security deposits, mobile home park cases, foreclosures, predatory lending, etc. Beginning in 2012 she has been the lead fair housing trainer throughout Idaho.

  • Where: Maryann Jordan Council Chambers at Boise City Hall
  • When: Thursday, December 15 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  • Lunch: A taco bar lunch will be provided

REGISTER HERE

 

NIMBY, Equity and Liability for Communities

NIMBY Equity and Liability: Why Planners Need to Understand Fair Housing Law

During the October, 2022 APA Idaho Conference in Boise, Approximately 60 planning professionals heard from experts Erin Anderson (Director, The Housing Company) and Don Elliott, FAICP, J.D. (Director, Clarion Associates) on the impacts of growing NIMBY opposition to residential development that is affordable and/or serves diverse populations. The session references findings and comments from the most recent 2022 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing, and provides examples of barriers to fair housing choice and best practices in planning to reduce violations and liability. The session was moderated by Erik Kingston, PCED (Housing Resources Coordinator, IHFA).

Session Description. Housing availability and affordability are top of mind for every community. As local government seeks to cultivate housing diversity and choice, persistent local opposition to multifamily housing, density or diversity poses both a barrier and liability. The Fair Housing Act defines an “aggrieved person” as “any person who . . . claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice,” and the Act expressly protects the rights of housing developers—as well as minorities, families or people with disabilities.

When developers of otherwise conforming subsidized projects are consistently denied permits because of neighborhood pushback, local governments may be liable. NIMBY can drive emotionally charged short-term thinking about what should be long-term planning and development strategies. This panel of fair housing, planning and legal experts will explore existing case law and invite participants to a discussion of practical civic engagement strategies to stay focused on planning principles and long-term community benefits.

Watch the session video (Courtesy, APA Idaho Chapter)

Accessible Communications

Below are links and resources referenced in the session, Accessibility in Communications, featured in the 2022 Conference on Housing and Economic Development, sponsored by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association.

How to make your communications—from your website to your printed material —accessible to non-native speakers and individuals with sensory related disabilities (vision or hearing).

Contributors and Speakers:

  • Laine Amoureux, Account Representative, The International Association of Accessibility Professionals; and
  • Carolyn Quintero, Web Accessibility Analyst, Boise State University

Presentation Materials

Idaho Digital Accessibility Consortium (IDAC) This work is sponsored by the Idaho Assistive Technology Project, a grassroots group of Idahoans invested in disability inclusion. Webpages to be updated soon.

Community of Practice (AKA Accessibility Therapy) As your schedule allows please feel free to drop-in on any Thursday between 1:30 and 3:00 p.m. MT and chat, while you work, with members of our disability advocacy community of practice! No topics are off limits, nor are any going to be “scheduled”. The goal is to create a space for spontaneous connection, much like we might have if we were able to safely meet in-person before/after meetings or in our offices.

Note. Email nstallings at uidaho.edu or laine at amoureuxatconsulting.com to be added to the Community of Practice (AKA Accessibility Therapy) and/or the IDAC newsletter – for training announcements.

International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) – a professional association for anyone working on accessibility and disability-inclusion

Digital.gov Accessible Social Media Toolkit The Federal Social Media Accessibility Toolkit Hackpad: Improving the Accessibility of Social Media for Public Service. From the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy: “The toolkit is intended to help agencies evaluate the accessibility of their social media programs for persons with disabilities, identify areas that need improving, and share their own ideas and recommendations for helping ensuring our modernization programs are easily accessed by all who need them.”

AccessibleSocial Accessible Social is a free resource hub for digital marketers, communication professionals, content creators, and everyday social media users who want to learn how to make their content inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities.

Other Examples

Video presentations. Example of audio description with ASL support for video by the Idaho Access Project.

Accessible events. The Idaho Access Project teamed up with the Womens and Childrens Alliance to create a more accessible route for their 2021 and Oct. 2 2022 SueB fundraising run/walk. The Urban Route features audio descriptions of the route and points of interest along the way.