The Fred Hampton Housing Discrimination Testing Project
On April 25, 2019, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed the Just Housing Amendment to the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance. This Ordinance provides protection to individuals seeking housing by making some qualifying criminal backgrounds exempt from consideration; hence developing a new protected class in Cook County. I want to develop a housing discrimination testing program, named The Fred Hampton Housing Discrimination Project, which will focus on conducting systemic tests utilizing testers with criminal backgrounds.
Housing is a human right. Housing determines the quality of education your children receive, your accessibility to good paying jobs and whether or not you have access to healthy food and services. In the city of Chicago it also determines how likely or not you are to die of murder or spend your life in prison. In order to enforce this new Ordinance and bring attention to the need for protection of those citizens who have a criminal background, systemic testing is needed. My program will conduct tests, paying testers with criminal backgrounds as testers, refer cases of discrimination to government agencies for settlement, and build a cadre of advocates who will lobby for criminal backgrounds to be adopted as a federal protected class.
PROBLEM ANALYSIS
In the City of Chicago there are several organizations that conduct housing discrimination testing. However, testing is time consuming and expensive. Organizations have to be savvy with limited funds and concentrate on testing based on complaints. In this case, an organization will conduct an investigation in hope of finding discrimination on the behalf of a client. However, in the majority of cases of discrimination, a person is not aware that they are being discriminated against because the housing provider will lie to the person seeking housing. Likewise, the person seeking housing often doesn’t have the time or resources to look for help when they believe they are being discriminated against. They need housing now and continue to search.
That is why it is important that organizations conduct systemic testing. Conducting systemic testing for those with criminal backgrounds is the most important way to see if rampant housing discrimination occurred. Of protected classes bringing complaints for being denied housing, my guess is that those with criminal backgrounds would be the least likely to find help, believing that because of their past mistakes they deserve the discrimination. Likewise, organizations are more likely to concentrate already limited funds on complaining families (familial status), those with disabilities, or those receiving public funds for housing (section 8), which must be utilized within a specific period of time. My testing program would focus solely on the existence of a criminal record as a protected class.
Formally incarcerated individuals’ ability to secure safe and affordable housing is paramount to their success. Yet they face significant barriers to obtaining housing, often in the form of discrimination. In the City of Chicago, white people make up 49% of the population but only 8% of all arrests whereas Black people make up 39% of the population, yet 73% of all arrests. Black people are arrested, convicted and incarcerated at rates disproportionate to their share of the general population.
In the Chicago context, we know because of atrocities such as the illegal detaining and torture of Black men by John Burge and due to discriminatory policies, such as “stop and frisk”, that criminal records-based barriers to housing are likely to have a disproportionate impact on Black renters.
In order to combat this problem, on April 25, 2019, the Cook County Board of Commissioners passed the Just Housing Amendment to the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance to:
Prohibit housing discrimination based on an individual’s covered criminal history
Require landlords to perform an individualized assessment of an otherwise qualified individual’s criminal conviction history prior to denying them and application for housing.
Enforcement of “The Just Housing Amendment” requires discrimination testing. This is crucial because it will both provide evidence for individuals who suspect they are being discriminated against and it will allow awareness of the pervasiveness of the discrimination. I want to develop a housing discrimination testing program as a pathway to enforce the Just Housing Amendment
Impact
My project is the development of a housing discrimination testing program that seeks to enforce the Just Housing Amendment, which prevents discrimination against persons with particular criminal backgrounds. I will achieve this goal by conducting systemic tests. I plan to hire one to two testing coordinators and recruit and train at least 50 diverse testers with criminal backgrounds. Testers have to be trained on how to conduct a test, housing discrimination laws, how to complete the questionnaire after the test and give a debrief of what was experienced. Testers will be contract (1099) employees and will be paid per test. I will conduct at least 5 systemic tests per week utilizing 2 testers per test.
My objective is to both increase the financial security of Black Chicago citizens with criminal records as well as to build a cadre of advocates with criminal histories to fight for justice on their own behalf. My long-term goal is for a person’s criminal background to be adopted as a federal protected class. If discrimination is found, I will forward the complaint to the City of Chicago, the state, and the Office of Housing and Urban Development. My hope is that over time, discrimination will be found and sustained by at least one of the aforementioned agencies, and the funds obtained via settlement will be used to conduct more tests, pay for tester training and increased wages for testers and possibly broaden our scope of tests into Cook County.
