[Peace] Turnout needed Tuesday night on Champaign Human Rights Ordinance/Section 8 issue

[Randall Cotton]

CALL TO ACTION! I'd like to urge folks to attend and/or speak at the Champaign
City Council meeting this coming Tuesday (7PM, City Council Chambers, 102 N.
Neil St.). The material below should give you all you need to speak
intelligently about this issue. We also need lots of supporters in the audience
to applaud speakers. Head counts and applause matter a lot in influencing swing
voters (there may only be one in this case). If you can only make it for a
little while, e-mail me a phone number that I can reach you at and I'll give you
a heads-up call in anticipation of when it comes up on the agenda.

I'd also like to encourage folks to contact the most important vote on this
issue, Deb Frank Feinen - I'm told she is very reasonable in conversation.

Home: 356-2086
Office: 359-1000 Ext. 123
E-mail: DeborahFrankFeinen at ci.champaign.il.us

What is this about? This is about whether landlords in Champaign will be
explicitly given the legal green light to reject prospective tenants strictly
because they are poor enough that they take advantage of the federal section 8
rent subsidy program. And it will have the effect of barring many black and
other minority folks from renting from particular landlords who engage in that
discrimination. It will also affect hard-working single parents, seniors and
disabled folks who are white, but poor.

In particular, the change in the Champaign Human Rights Ordinance being proposed
by Councilmember Ken Pirok could easily be used by landlords of higher-rent
housing to keep poor folks (disproportionately minorities) out of their units,
even if they have just as much or even better ability to pay the rent (using
their section 8 subsidy) as the next person who is not poor. That is flat-out
class-war discrimination, de facto racial discrimination, and it should remain
illegal.

Pirok and others complain about the bothersome beaurocracy required in having to
deal with the section 8 program. Pirok even claims it's discriminatory against
landlords. From the most recent News-Gazette article on this:

---- begin excerpt from Sep. 23, 2006 News-Gazette ----

 "It's not fair to solve one type of discrimination by creating another kind,"
he said. "There are a variety of things you must sign between the housing
authority (of Champaign County) and landlords that are outside of the normal
business practices of landlords. "I don't think it's right to affix
discrimination on something that is part of how landlords do business," Pirok
said, who is an apartment owner.

---- end excerpt from Sep. 23, 2006 News-Gazette ----

But Champaign, like Urbana,  is a city whose Human Rights Ordinance has language
intended to avoid housing discrimination against the poor. So section 8
paperwork is just a cost of doing business that Pirok and others want to avoid
at expense of the poor. I'm sure it's also bothersome for landlords to make sure
their property complies with Champaign's property maintenance codes, but that's
also just another cost of doing business in this city.

I'm also quite sure it was bothersome for white-only restaurants to stop
discriminating against blacks.

Here is the proposed change that Pirok is proposing:

The Champaign Human Rights Ordinance (municipal code chapter 17), which is
online at

http://library3.municode.com:80/mcc/home.htm?view=home&doc_action=setdoc&doc_keytype=tocid&doc_key=fd61f4aa109033f914f645302f408711&infobase=10520

forbids discrimination based on "source of income". Pirok proposed changing the
current definition of "source of income", removing the phrase "including Section
8 or any other governmental rent subsidy or rent assistance program" and adding
the phrase "but does not include Section 8 housing vouchers."

His proposal is Council Bill No. 2006-261 and is on the agenda for next
Tuesday's regular Champaign City Council meeting (7PM in the Council Chambers,
ground floor, 102 N. Neil St.). The agenda is now online at:

http://archive.ci.champaign.il.us/archive/dsweb/Get/Document-4414/2006-10-03%20%20Regular%20Council%20Meeting.pdf

There is a long history to this issue, going back to 2001 (in fact, this issue
played a big part in inspiring Giraldo Rosales to run for city council). But
recent history is that earlier this year, the City Council added explicit
language to the Human Rights Ordinance to categorically prevent discrimination
based on section 8 vouchers. (Urbana has explicitly protected section 8 vouchers
as a "source of income" for a decade). But then Kathy Ennen resigned her spot on
the council (to move out of town) and her spot on the City Council was
ultimately given to Deborah Frank Feinen. Now Ken Pirok thinks he may be able to
get 5 votes in favor of not only removing the added language that prevented
discrimination, but *also* add in language explicitly *green-lighting*
discrimination.

Here's how the votes line up, based on past voting record and public comments:

opposing section 8 discrimination:
--------------------------------
Giraldo Rosales
Gina Jackson
Michael La Due
Marci Dodds

favoring section 8 discrimination:
---------------------------------
Jerry Schweighart (the mayor votes in Champaign)
Vic Macintosh
Ken Pirok (used to oppose discrimination, ironically - see below)
Tom Bruno

Deborah Frank Feinen - ????????

Following is all the on-line News-Gazette articles regarding this issue in
chronological order, starting back in 2001 (11 articles total). These do a great
job at illustrating the whole arc of this issue.

**********************

Human rights ordinance reviewed
Published Online Jun 24, 2001

By JODI HECKEL

News-Gazette Staff Writer


CHAMPAIGN - Champaign city officials are taking a look at their human rights
ordinance after a ruling that a provision that prohibits housing discrimination
does not apply to Section 8 tenants.

A discrimination complaint brought before the Champaign Human Relations
Commission was dismissed earlier this month when a hearing officer ruled that
the ordinance, which prohibits discrimination based on source of income, doesn't
apply to prospective tenants with Section 8 vouchers. The ordinance doesn't
specifically mention the federal Section 8 housing assistance program, which
provides subsidies to low-income families, but Champaign officials believed the
ordinance covered those tenants, said Assistant City Attorney Trisha Crowley.

"Certainly the purpose for having the provision is to make sure everybody makes
their rental property available to Section 8 applicants," Crowley said. "If a
landlord has a Section 8 tenant and has problems, there is an impulse to say all
Section 8 tenants are like this. The whole idea of the ordinance is you have to
deal with people as individuals."

Urbana attorney Steve Beckett, who represented the landlord, Royse & Brinkmeyer
Apartments, argued that the Section 8 vouchers were not a source of income
because they were subsidies paid by the government to landlords, rather than
payments made to tenants.

Crowley said the city's legal department and Human Relations Commission have not
yet met to discuss what they might do in response to the ruling, but
specifically including Section 8 vouchers as a source of income under the
ordinance could resolve that issue.

However, Beckett also argued the ordinance was unconstitutional because it
required landlords to participate in the Section 8 voucher program, which
Congress made voluntary. He said landlords object to the administrative
requirements of the program.

"In essence, what this does is say to the landlord, you have to sign a contract
with the federal government, and the landlord says, 'I have the right not to
sign a contract with the federal government because they want to attach strings
to my lease,'" Beckett said.

Urbana has a similar ordinance and in 1996 it added specific language to protect
recipients of Section 8 vouchers. Beckett sued the city on behalf of a landlord
and two real-estate management companies, arguing that the amended ordinance was
unconstitutional, but the suit was dismissed when a judge ruled the parties
didn't have standing to bring the suit.

One member of Champaign's Human Relations Commission thinks the city may have a
problem if it wants to include the Section 8 program in its ordinance.

"The intent of the ordinance is good. The problem is the federal government has
put a lot of administrative rules on top of (Section 8)," such as property
inspections, said Michael Markstahler, chair-elect of the commission and a
landlord himself. "I have a grave concern that it cannot be required. Our city
council has made it very clear that they do not want rental property
inspections. If they require all city of Champaign landlords to take Section 8,
then they require all city of Champaign landlords to be inspected annually.

"I participate in the Section 8 program," he said. "As a landlord, I think it's
my responsibility to, but if I didn't think it was my responsibility to, I
probably wouldn't because of the extra administrative burden."

Housing advocates said the decision will hurt residents with Section 8 vouchers.

"It can add to the difficulty that a person who has limited resources already
has," said Elawrence Davis, executive director of the Housing Authority of
Champaign County. "I think they have a duty to level the playing field for
everyone involved. If you are in the business of housing, you have to accept
whatever laws, rules and regulations come with that business.

"To have a landlord say it is a voluntary program and they don't want to subject
themselves to government restraints ... I recognize some of it is economics, but
some of it is just flat-out discrimination."

"The city of Champaign ought to be doing something about this," said Ruth Wyman,
who works at the Champaign-Urbana Tenant Union and is also an Urbana alderwoman.
"There are a lot of people who have been discriminated against, and there will
be even more now with this ruling who are going to be discriminated against in
housing. If the city wants to take care of its people, ... I hope they are
taking some action."

**********************

Talks resurface to protect housing subsidy recipients
Published Online Mar 8, 2002

By DEANA POOLE

News-Gazette Staff Writer


CHAMPAIGN - Champaign's Human Relations Commission will take another look at
including language in the city's human rights ordinance to protect recipients of
Section 8 housing subsidies.

A recommendation by the commission was put on hold pending a court ruling on a
discrimination lawsuit filed by Champaign resident Bettina Chapman.

The case was recently dismissed by Circuit Court Judge Thomas Difanis, prompting
members of the human rights commission to put the issue back on its agenda,
after several incidents that have shown the city's ordinance doesn't prevent
discrimination by landlords against those who have Section 8 vouchers. The
federal housing assistance program provides rent subsidies to low-income
families.

John Roska, an attorney with Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance who represented
Chapman, said including specific language to ban discrimination against Section
8 recipients in the city's human rights ordinance "would help tremendously."

"That seemed to be the sticking point," he said, noting that language in the
ordinance now prohibiting discrimination based on "source of income" hasn't been
enough.

In March 2000, Chapman, who is in her 60s, contacted Royse & Brinkmeyer, knowing
the company manages a large number of apartments in the area, to inquire about
renting. Chapman was asked about her income and was told the firm doesn't rent
to people receiving Section 8 assistance.

Chapman filed a complaint with the Champaign-Urbana Tenant Union, and later with
the city. Last June, hearing officer Catherine Barbercheck ruled that the city's
human rights ordinance doesn't apply to prospective tenants with Section 8
vouchers, despite the "source of income" language.

Chapman appealed to the circuit court, requesting an administrative review.
Difanis confirmed Barbercheck's decision in dismissing the case, Roska said.

"Unless they specifically say that type of discrimination is prohibitive (the
judge is) not going to stretch source of income to mean housing assistance or
Section 8 assistance," Roska said.

Urbana added a provision banning discrimination against Section 8 recipients to
its human rights ordinance in 1996.

The Champaign Human Relations Commission wants to make some type of
recommendation to the city council during the commission's meeting next month,
scheduled for 5:30 p.m. April 1 in the council chambers of the City Building,
102 N. Neil St.

In January, Mayor Jerry Schweighart attended the commission's meeting and urged
the commissioners not to "waste their time" because the council wouldn't support
changing the ordinance to ban discrimination against Section 8 recipients.

The day after, Schweighart circulated a survey to the council to see if there
would be enough support to bring the Section 8 issue to a study session.

The topic was listed as "adding specific language to include Section 8
discrimination as a class of prohibited classes in the city's human rights
ordinance."

Five council members must put "yes" by their name to have the topic scheduled
for a study session.

At least five of the nine council members indicated that they didn't want to
talk about the topic.

Those council members who were polled and said no included the mayor, Tom Bruno,
Kathy Ennen, Vic McIntosh and Jim Green.

Council member Ken Pirok said he would still like to discuss the issue in study
session.

"I think it's understood that when that was put in the ordinance that 'source of
income' was meant to include Section 8," Pirok said.

Pirok said he hopes the council is more receptive to discussing the change now
that a decision has been handed down in circuit court.

Bruno, at-large council member, says he hasn't changed his stance on the issue.

"I think the hearing officer is correct, and I don't think we ought to change
our law to override the hearing officer's determination," he said.

"I think that ... property owners ought to fairly be able to - and if you use
this word carefully - 'discriminate' against potential customers."

Bruno compared the situation to some businesses not accepting personal checks
and said it's not the role of government to demand that the businesses accept
checks from people.

Bob Glasa of Royse and Brinkmeyer said his company believes a private landlord
shouldn't be forced to participate in a voluntary program.

"There are problems within the program and there are problems within the
ordinance as it's written and we applauded the city's decision to make it
voluntary and now we're skeptical and disappointed that they're talking about
it" again, Glasa said.

He said the proposed change "seeks to assert that people with Section 8 are
identical in every way shape and form of people who are not on Section 8."

Glasa said it's more difficult to collect money for damages from Section 8
tenants. He also said that, in his experience, the amount of damage caused by
people in the program is higher.

Meanwhile, Roska said he isn't sure whether he will appeal Chapman's case.

"In one sense, there's nothing to lose," Roska said. "It's hard for me to say
we're going to be any more successful" at the appellate level.

**********************

Revision would affect city's landlords
Published Online Nov 18, 2005

By MIKE MONSON

News-Gazette Staff Writer


CHAMPAIGN - The Champaign City Council is being urged to change its human rights
ordinance to effectively require that city landlords must accept Section 8 rent
subsidies from low-income people.

A three-member subcommittee of the Champaign Human Relations Commission
unanimously recommended Thursday that the human rights ordinance should be
amended to specify that federal Section 8 payments are considered a source of
income and that landlords can't discriminate against people seeking to rent an
apartment or house by using a Section 8 voucher as payment.

The recommendation, which would be made to the city council, will be considered
by the full human relations commission at its Dec. 5 meeting.

Both Champaign and Urbana prohibit discrimination in housing in their human
rights ordinances, and they also protect against discrimination based on source
of income.

For some two decades, that was interpreted to mean that Champaign-Urbana
landlords could not reject potential renters simply on the basis that they
receive Section 8.

But in 2001, the city of Champaign filed a complaint on behalf of a woman,
Bettina Chapman, who had sought to rent an apartment using a Section 8 voucher
from Royse & Brinkmeyer Apartments. The Champaign-based firm had told Chapman
that they do not participate in the Section 8 program.

The case went before a hearing officer, Champaign attorney Catherine
Barbercheck, who ruled on June 4, 2001, that Royse & Brinkmeyer's refusal to
participate in Section 8 was not sufficient to show discrimination based on
source of income.

The city's human relations commission then voted to accept the ruling.

Chapman then appealed the commission's decision in Champaign County Circuit
Court, but the commission's decision was upheld, according to Tricia Crowley,
Champaign's deputy city attorney.

The hearing officer's ruling and the commission's acceptance of it effectively
meant that the city of Champaign no longer protected Section 8 recipients from
being turned away by landlords.

The issue resurfaced in September after Esther Patt, coordinator of the
University of Illinois Tenant Union, brought to the commission's attention an
August 2004 decision by the First District appellate court in Chicago.

In the case, a three-judge panel found that a landlord had violated Chicago's
fair housing ordinance because the landlord refused to rent to a Section 8
recipient.

The Chicago ordinance prohibited discrimination based on "source of income," but
did not specifically mention Section 8.

Crowley said the First District case covers the entire state unless there is a
contradictory appellate ruling elsewhere in Illinois, which she said does not
appear to be the case.

Patt said she believes that the human relations commission had the option of
rejecting Barbercheck's ruling in 2001, but was not adequately informed of that
option.

The Urbana City Council in January 1996 voted to include Section 8 as a source
of income in its human rights ordinance, Patt said, which the subcommittee is
now asking the Champaign council to do.

"The irony of it all is the reason for replacing public housing with Section 8
was to eliminate the concentration of the poor," Patt said. "But discrimination
against people with Section 8 reconcentrates the poor at places that don't
discriminate."

Patt quizzed Crowley during Thursday's subcommittee meeting whether simply a
finding by the human relations commission that Section 8 is a source of income
would be sufficient. She asked whether the city council needed to consider the
issue.

But Crowley said she wasn't sure the human relations commission could direct
city community relations staff to begin considering Section 8 a source of income
when complaints are filed.

"Whether you could direct staff and say they have to do that, that's a different
question," Crowley said. "Staff reports to the city manager and the city manager
answers to the city council."

An explicit mention of Section 8 as a protected source of income in the city's
human rights ordinance would be much clearer, she said.

**********************

Panel urges city rule affecting landlords
Published Online Dec 7, 2005

By MIKE MONSON

News-Gazette Staff Writer


CHAMPAIGN - The Champaign City Council should require city landlords to accept
Section 8 housing assistance vouchers from low-income people in most cases.

That was the recommendation made by the Champaign Human Relations Commission, in
a 5-1 vote Tuesday night.

But whether the city council will consider the issue remains to be seen.

The human relations commission recommended that Champaign's human rights
ordinance, adopted in the late 1970s, be amended to specify that federal
"Section 8 or any other government rent subsidy or rent assistance program" are
a protected source of income.

Both Champaign and Urbana's human rights ordinances prohibit housing
discrimination and protect against discrimination based on source of income.

"I hope our city council will take this seriously," said Commissioner Mark Aber.
"Our job is to eliminate all barriers to equal opportunity in employment and
housing."

Urbana amended its human rights ordinance in January 1996 to include Section 8
as a source of income. Champaign has not done so.

In 2001, that lack of action became an issue when a Champaign woman, Bettina
Chapman, was denied an apartment by Royse & Brinkmeyer Apartments because
Chapman wanted to use a Section 8 voucher to pay her rent.

The city of Champaign filed a complaint on behalf of Chapman and the case went
before a hearing officer, Champaign attorney Catherine Barbercheck.

She ruled on June 4, 2001, that Royse & Brinkmeyer's refusal to participate in
the Section 8 program was not sufficient to show discrimination based on source
of income.

The city's human relations commission then voted to accept the ruling.

The city appealed Barbercheck's ruling in Champaign County Circuit Court, but
the commission's decision to accept the ruling was upheld on procedural grounds.

That means the city doesn't bar Section 8 recipients from being turned away by
landlords who don't want to participate in the program. Congress designed the
program to be voluntary, though many cities have made participation by landlords
almost mandatory through their human rights ordinances.

Aber noted that landlords can opt out of the Section 8 program if they can prove
participation would be a substantial financial burden.

The city council did not discuss the issue during its meeting Tuesday. It would
take five of the nine council members signing a form requesting a study session
for the issue to come before the council.

Champaign City Manager Steve Carter, in an e-mail to city council members late
last month, said he didn't believe discrimination against local Section 8
recipients was common.

"While there are probably good reasons to do this, there does not appear to be a
problem, in that the Housing Authority (of Champaign County) has no problems
getting enough landlords to participate voluntarily (in Section 8), nor do we
get many complaints from people seeking housing," Carter wrote.

Commission member Kingston Roy, a Champaign attorney, said he believes the issue
of whether Section 8 is a protected source of income is settled as a matter of
law, both in Illinois and in other states.

"I think the law is clear," Roy said. "I don't think we're changing anything.
We're clarifying it."

The 1st District appellate court in Chicago, in an Aug. 20, 2004, decision,
found that a Chicago landlord had discriminated against a potential tenant who
was rejected because she wanted to use a Section 8 voucher. The Chicago human
rights ordinance, like Champaign's, prohibited discrimination based on source of
income but did not explicitly mention Section 8.

However, Champaign City Attorney Fred Stavins said he believes the appellate
court's ruling mainly upheld the authority of the Chicago Commission on Human
Relations to determine if discrimination occurred.

"They said it was within the (Chicago) human relations commission's power to
interpret the Chicago ordinance in that fashion," he said.

**********************

Council to discuss discrimination issue
Published Online Jan 18, 2006

By MIKE MONSON

News-Gazette Staff Writer


CHAMPAIGN - The Champaign City Council appears to be leaning against amending
the city's human rights ordinance to specifically prohibit discrimination
against holders of Section 8 housing vouchers.

But council member Giraldo Rosales said Tuesday night he was able to get seven
of the council's nine members to sign a request form to hold a study session on
the controversial issue. Rosales said he expects the study session to be held
within the next month.

Only council members Tom Bruno and Vic McIntosh declined to sign the form, he
said.

"I would have been pleased to get five, let alone seven (signatures)," Rosales
said after Tuesday's council meeting. "I think that's phenomenal."

Adding Section 8 protections to the human rights ordinance "would alleviate a
lot of animosity toward senior citizens and the needy" who use the program,
Rosales said.

"It's not just the black community" that uses Section 8, said Rosales, a black
of Cuban descent.

Section 8 is a federal rent assistance program run locally through the Housing
Authority of Champaign County. In most cases, the housing authority and the
tenant both pay checks to the landlord.

Section 8 recipients "are law-abiding citizens trying to get their feet on the
ground, get established and stable and live like everyone else," Rosales said.

But some other city council members, in interviews last week, said they see no
need to change the human rights ordinance and that landlord participation in
Section 8 should be voluntary.

"I think it should be their choice," said Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart. "We
have plenty of landlords who participate."

The city's human rights ordinance prohibits discrimination based on the source
of a tenant's income, but doesn't specifically mention Section 8. Urbana amended
its ordinance in January 1996 specifically to prohibit discrimination against
Section 8 holders.

A Champaign hearing officer ruled in 2001 that a local landlord's decision not
to participate in the Section 8 program did not constitute discrimination based
on source of income.

But on Dec. 5, the Champaign Human Relations Commission voted 5-1 to recommend
that the city council amend the human rights ordinance to specifically state
that source of income protections include Section 8 and other governmental rent
subsidies.

The commission's recommendation came after it learned about a 2004 decision by
the 1st District Appellate Court in Chicago.

The appellate court interpreted Chicago's human rights ordinance, which
prohibited discrimination based on source of income, to include Section 8
vouchers. The decision applies statewide.

"Although not the same language as Champaign's ordinance, this case would likely
be highly persuasive on the issue of the meaning of the Champaign ordinance,"
wrote Champaign's deputy City Attorney Tricia Crowley in a Dec. 30 memo to the
city council.

A partial survey of the city council showed a divided council on the issue.
Rosales and Michael La Due favor adding protections for Section 8 recipients,
while Schweighart, McIntosh, Pirok and Bruno indicated they oppose such a move.

Council member Marci Dodds said she will abstain on the issue because her
husband owns rental apartments, while Kathy Ennen said she doesn't have an
opinion on the issue. Gina Jackson could not be reached for comment.

"I don't want a landlord to have to take anyone who they don't feel is right for
their business," McIntosh said.

La Due noted that up until 2001, the city acted for more than 20 years as though
Section 8 vouchers were a protected source of income.

If the city council balks, the human relations commission still has the option
of voting to interpret the city's human rights ordinance as including Section 8
as a protected source of income.

**********************

Champaign council taking up Section 8 issue
Published Online Feb 27, 2006

By Mike Monson

CHAMPAIGN - A divided Champaign City Council will consider Tuesday night whether
to include protections for people who receive rent subsidies in the city's human
rights ordinance.

The Champaign Human Rights Commission, in a 5-1 vote on Dec. 5, asked the
council to amend the city's human rights ordinance to prohibit discrimination
against holders of Section 8 housing vouchers or other governmental rent subsidy

programs. The proposed change would require a landlord to accept a tenant
receiving Section 8 assistance who qualifies under the landlord's normal
screening procedures.

The city council will consider the issue in study session at 7 p.m. Tuesday in
council chambers at the Champaign City Building, 102 N. Neil St.

The city's existing human rights ordinance already prohibits discrimination
based on "source of income," but does not specifically mention Section 8.

Interviews with a number of council members show some divisions of opinion, and
that some council members want more information.

Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart said he opposes the proposed change.

"From what I understand, there's not a shortage of landlords who accept Section
8," Schweighart said. "I think they're imposing rules for something that's not a
problem."

The mayor also said he doesn't want the city to pass a regulation that could
lead to significant numbers of Chicago residents who receive Section 8
assistance to move to Champaign.

Council member Giraldo Rosales, who proposed the study session, said he will
support amending the human rights ordinance.

"I think a lot of apartment management uses (Section 8) as a screening factor to
not rent to 'undesirable' Section 8 recipients," Rosales said. "There's a lot of
hard-working single parents, a lot of seniors, a lot of physically challenged
disabled people who use Section 8."

Other council members said they are still undecided at this point.

Vic McIntosh, who previously indicated he was opposed to Section 8 protections,
said he's still got an open mind and is willing to listen.

Council member Ken Pirok also listed himself as undecided, but said that a
number of objections to Section 8 protections raised in recent months by local
landlords have proven to be unfounded.

"It's starting to seem like all the objections the landlords have, which seemed
reasonable, aren't even true," he said. "They've lost some credibility in my
eyes."

Pirok said landlords were saying that they couldn't use their own lease with
Section 8 and that they couldn't require security deposits. Both of those
statements are false, he said.

Under the Section 8 program, the landlord signs an agreement with the Housing
Authority of Champaign County, which issues Section 8 vouchers to qualified
applicants. The agreement is that the apartment owner will be paid a certain
amount by the Housing Authority, according to a city memo on the issue.

The landlord also signs a lease with the tenant, who must pay 30 percent of
monthly income toward the rent, the memo said. The Section 8 recipient does the
apartment search.

The city memo stated that landlords can use their own standards of leasing and
can use credit checks on prospective tenants. Landlords can also use their own
standards for eviction, the memo said.

Alan Nudo, president of Robeson's Inc., which has a real estate management
company, said he personally thinks the city should leave Section 8 as a
voluntary program. He said there is no shortage of landlords in Champaign who
accept Section 8 recipients, and that "property owners ought to have the right
to have choice."

But Esther Patt, coordinator of the University of Illinois Tenant Union,
responded that "the whole point of nondiscrimination is to treat everyone the
same." A number of city landlords flatly refuse to accept Section 8 recipients,
she said, adding that Urbana included Section 8 protections in its human rights
ordinance a decade ago.

**********************

Section 8 protections rejected by Champaign council
Published Online Mar 1, 2006

By Mike Monson

CHAMPAIGN - It doesn't appear that the Champaign City Council will be including
anti-discrimination protections for people receiving governmental rent subsidies
in the city's human rights ordinance.

That is, unless council member Marci Dodds should change her mind about
abstaining on the issue.

Following three hours of debate, Champaign council members voted 4-4, in a study

session straw poll Tuesday night, to reject amending the human rights ordinance
to specify that federal Section 8 rental vouchers are considered a protected
source of income under the human rights ordinance.

The proposed change would have required a landlord to accept a tenant receiving
Section 8 assistance who qualifies under the landlord's normal screening
procedures. Urbana included such protections in its human right's ordinance a
decade ago.

Dodds, who was absent Tuesday, is the potential tie-breaker on the issue. But
she has said previously that she intends to abstain on the issue because her
husband, downtown developer Jon "Cody" Sokolski, owns rental apartments and
would be directly affected by her vote. She couldn't be reached for comment this
morning.

Under council rules, when Dodds and the entire council is next present, the
Section 8 issue will be polled again with no debate on the issue.

City Attorney Fred Stavins said Tuesday that Dodds has no statutory conflict on
the issue.

"But council members frequently don't vote for other reasons," Stavins said.

Council members favoring including Section 8 protections were Giraldo Rosales,
Kathy Ennen, Mike La Due and Gina Jackson. Opposed were Mayor Jerry Schweighart
and council members Ken Pirok, Vic McIntosh and Tom Bruno.

Both Bruno and Pirok said they own apartments.

Council member Gina Jackson said she believes the protections for Section 8
recipients are necessary.

"It is not a mandatory program, but I would support it being a mandatory program
since we still have arrogance, bigotry and defiance in our diverse city of
Champaign," Jackson said.

Bruno called the vote "a difficult decision."

"I take a little bit of offense at having it assumed or suggested a landlord who
doesn't accept Section 8 is using that as an artifice or a secret way to
discriminate on other things, like race," he said. "I don't think that's the
case."

Bruno compared a landlord's decision not to participate in the Section 8 program
to a retailer's decision not to accept credit cards.

Pirok said he personally participates in Section 8 as a landlord, but that he
uses tough credit standards and has only one tenant who participates in the
program. Pirok said he thinks there might be some discrimination going on by
landlords, but that he wouldn't vote to mandate participation in a program that
he said imposes some burdens on a landlord.

Several landlords and their representatives spoke during public participation.

"This is forced mandatory participation in a federal program," said Neil Malone
of the Illinois Association of Realtors in Springfield. "This is mandatory to
local businessmen in your community. They have to participate in a federal
program or face grave consequences."

The suggestion to include Section 8 protections came from the Champaign Human
Relations Commission, in a 5-1 vote in December.

Commission members Mark Aber and Beverly Jackson Lacy said they were
disappointed by the council's decision.

"I thought human rights would surpass the politics and economics and the
negativity, where the fear comes in," Jackson Lacy said.

The human relations commission could decide to interpret, on its own, whether
the "source of income" protection in the city's human rights ordinance covers
Section 8 and other governmental rent subsidies. According to a city memo on the
issue, a Champaign County Circuit Court judge ruled in a 2001 case that the
commission has the authority to interpret the human rights ordinance.

"I would consider that as a possibility," Aber said. "I've been hoping we
wouldn't have to come to that."

"I don't have anything to lose," Jackson Lacy said. "I've been fighting all my
life."

Schweighart said he thought the commission should leave the issue to the city
council to decide.

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Dodds will back Section 8 protections
Published Online Mar 7, 2006

By Mike Monson

CHAMPAIGN - Champaign City Council member Marci Dodds said she will support
amending the city's human rights ordinance to prohibit discrimination against
people receiving Section 8 vouchers or other governmental rent subsidies.

Dodds previously said she would abstain from any vote on that.

She missed the Feb. 28 council meeting at which council members split 4-4 on
whether to include Section 8 protections. Under council rules, the issue must
come up for a vote again at the next meeting when all nine members are present.

That vote could come tonight. The council meets at 7 p.m. at the Champaign City
Building, 102 N. Neil St.

"I will vote for it," Dodds said this morning. "It doesn't bother me. I know
there's a government program attached to it (Section 8). But we're not mandating
the landlords have to take Section 8. (Under the change), they can no longer
discriminate on the basis of Section 8 vouchers. They can still use their
(tenant) screening standards."

The proposed change in the ordinance would have required a landlord to accept a
tenant receiving Section 8 assistance who qualifies under the landlord's normal
screening procedures. Landlords could still do credit checks and not rent to
someone who didn't meet the landlord's standards.

Dodds said that Urbana has had Section 8 protections in its human rights
ordinance for the past decade.

Champaign's ordinance prohibits discrimination based on "source of income," but
does not mention Section 8. The city had interpreted its ordinance from 1977 to
2001 to include protections for Section 8 recipients.

But the city's interpretation changed after a hearing officer hired by the city
to hear a discrimination complaint ruled the city's source-of-income protection
didn't include Section 8.

Dodds previously said she would abstain on the Section 8 issue. She is the wife
of downtown developer Jon "Cody" Sokolski and had publicly laid out a standard
whereby she would abstain on issues that directly affect Sokolski's businesses.

But today Dodds said that standard has been too strict. She said she will now
abstain only when there is a statutory conflict of interest, or in cases where
"the impact is clearly specific."

"What I didn't see was that I ... run the very real risk of not representing my
district or the city on important issues," she said. "I leave the council, and
the city, open to deadlock. Worst of all, it means I am agreeing, however
tacitly, with the innuendo that I'm not independent, with the whisper that I
might act unethically.

"To run from an issue because someone may think I can't form my own opinion is
to give power to the lazy, the cynical and the sexist," Dodds said. "That is
unacceptable."

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New tally by Champaign City Council supports Section 8 protections
Published Online Mar 8, 2006

By Mike Monson

CHAMPAIGN - To Champaign City Council members Marci Dodds and Kathy Ennen,
approving a city policy that landlords can't discriminate against holders of
federal Section 8 rent vouchers was a matter of fairness.

"It's a governmental program that helps people," said Dodds, whose vote Tuesday
broke a 4-4 council deadlock on the issue from last week.

Dodds was joined by Ennen, Giraldo Rosales, Mike La Due and Gina Jackson in
supporting the policy change in a straw poll Tuesday night.

Ennen compared not renting to someone over Section 8 to rejecting a tenant who
pays rent with Social Security income.

"I think we did the right thing," Ennen said.

The issue will next come before the city council for a formal vote on March 21.

The city council deadlocked 4-4 last week in study session on amending the
city's human rights ordinance to prohibit discrimination against people
receiving Section 8 vouchers or other governmental rent subsidies. Dodds was
absent from that meeting.

In cases where there is a tie vote, council rules require that the issue be
repolled at the next regular meeting where all nine members show up.

The vote was the first item the council considered and, per council rules, there
was no debate.

Voting against adding the Section 8 protections were Champaign Mayor Jerry
Schweighart and council members Ken Pirok, Vic McIntosh and Tom Bruno.

Schweighart said he wanted city staff, local landlords represented through the
Central Illinois Apartment Association and Housing Authority of Champaign County
officials to sit down and try and work out an agreement to get more local
landlords to participate voluntarily in the Section 8 program. The housing
authority administers Section 8 in Champaign County.

Schweighart said a compromise would be preferable to "the city mandating 'You do
this.'" He said he expects local landlords to contact council members during the
next two weeks to register their dissatisfaction with the vote.

If given final council approval, the protections would require a landlord to
accept a tenant using Section 8 who qualifies under the landlord's normal
screening procedures. Landlords could still do credit checks and check with
previous landlords.

Dodds had indicated some weeks ago she would abstain on the Section 8 issue
because her husband, downtown developer Jon "Cody" Sokolski, owns apartments.
She had said she would abstain on all issues that directly affect Sokolski's
businesses.

But on Tuesday Dodds said that standard is too strict and she would not abstain
unless there was a statutory conflict of interest or if she thought there was a
clear conflict.

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Section 8 protections pass
Published Online Mar 22, 2006

By Mike Monson

CHAMPAIGN - The Champaign City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to prohibit
discrimination against holders of Section 8 housing vouchers.

Under the change, federal Section 8 rent subsidies and similar governmental
programs are specifically included in the city's definition of source of income.

The city's human rights ordinance prohibits housing discrimination based on
source of income.

Urbana has had similar protections for the past decade.

Supporting the change were council members Marci Dodds, Gina Jackson, Mike La
Due, Giraldo Rosales and Kathy Ennen. Opposed were Champaign Mayor Jerry
Schweighart and council member Vic McIntosh.

Council members Tom Bruno and Ken Pirok were absent.

Champaign had interpreted its human rights ordinance from 1977 to June 2001 as
prohibiting discrimination against Section 8 recipients. But that interpretation
changed after an officer hearing a Section 8 discrimination complaint ruled that
the city's ordinance did not clearly cover Section 8 as a category of
discrimination under source of income, and the city's Human Rights Commission
voted to accept that ruling.

Tuesday's outcome was expected, after Dodds earlier this month broke a 4-4
council deadlock on the issue at a March 7 study session.

Dodds had previously abstained on the issue because her husband, developer Jon
"Cody" Sokolski, owns apartments, but she decided this month she was being too
strict in her interpretation of what constituted a conflict of interest.

The only drama of the night was the fact that Jackson, who was serving as a
Democratic election judge, was not there at the start of the meeting and her
vote was needed to get the required fifth vote.

Council member Kathy Ennen moved to place the Section 8 issue at the end of the
agenda, instead of at the start, but she failed to get the required five votes,
with Mayor Jerry Schweighart and Vic McIntosh voting "no."

Esther Patt, coordinator of the Champaign-Urbana Tenant Union, then spoke for
eight minutes during public participation, with encouragement from Ennen to take
her time. Landlord Kip Pope also spoke against the proposed change. Jackson
arrived at her seat at 7:31 p.m.

**********************

Section 8 repeal proposed
Published Online Sep 23, 2006

By Mike Monson

CHAMPAIGN - A Champaign City Council member is proposing an amendment to the
city's human rights ordinance that would repeal anti-discrimination protections
for people with government rent subsidies.

Ken Pirok said he has placed his amendment on the Oct. 3 city council agenda and
that he thinks he has the five votes needed for passage.

The city council voted 5-2, with two council members absent, on March 21 to
specifically include Section 8 rent subsidies and other similar governmental
programs in the city's definition of source of income. The city's human rights
ordinance prohibits discrimination based on the source of income.

But former council member Kathy Ennen was one of the five supporters of Section
8 protections. The city council replaced Ennen last month with Deborah Frank
Feinen, a former Republican member of the Champaign County Board, after Ennen
moved to North Carolina. Pirok said he thinks Feinen will support repealing the
Section 8 amendment.

"I'm optimistic she will," he said. "That would add up to five."

Pirok, Mayor Jerry Schweighart and council members Tom Bruno and Vic McIntosh
previously opposed Section 8 protections.

Feinen said she isn't sure how she will vote.

"I want to look at it and talk with community members," she said.

Champaign had interpreted its human rights ordinance from 1977 to June 2001 as
prohibiting discrimination against Section 8 recipients. But that interpretation
changed after an officer hearing a Section 8 discrimination complaint ruled that
the city's ordinance did not clearly cover Section 8 as a category of
discrimination under source of income. The city's human rights commission then
voted to accept that ruling.

Pirok said the proposed amendment "wouldn't just repeal what we did before, but
it would specifically exclude Section 8 as a source of income."

"It's not fair to solve one type of discrimination by creating another kind," he
said. "There are a variety of things you must sign between the housing authority
(of Champaign County) and landlords that are outside of the normal business
practices of landlords.

"I don't think it's right to affix discrimination on something that is part of
how landlords do business," Pirok said, who is an apartment owner.

Council member Giraldo Rosales said he was "taken aback" by Pirok's proposal.

"Now, they're going to begin to repeal all the work we've done," he said. "This
is partisan politics."

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