Label
The Fair Housing Center: Source of Income Testing
Depart of Housing & Community Development
Director Rosalyn Clemens, X3647
Title
Authorizing the Mayor to enter into an agreement with The Fair Housing Center for Source of Income Testing services; authorizing the General Fund expenditure of an amount not to exceed $25,000; waiving the competitive bidding requirements of TMC Chapter 187; and declaring an emergency.
Body
SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
On December 15, 2020, Chapter 554 of Toledo Municipal Code (Ord. 498-18) was repealed and a new Chapter 554 was created (Ord. 490-20). Ord. 490-20 established source of income as a protected class and is prohibited real estate discrimination under TMC 554.03.
This Ordinance is to authorize the Mayor to enter into an agreement with The Fair Housing Center for Source of Income (SOI) discrimination testing services, as the City seeks to better understand the extent of said discrimination. The primary focus will be to identify unlawful SOI housing discrimination. Further, this information will be used to better understand the issues surrounding SOI; used for advocacy; to assist in identifying need for legislation changes; and to help create good enforcement processes. SOI testing will include Bona Fides, Referrals, and Systemic Investigative (see Attachment A for definitions.)
The Fair Housing is dedicated to eliminating housing discrimination and promoting housing choice, and advocating for anti-discriminatory housing policies; and is uniquely positioned to provide the testing parameters for and implementation of Source of Income housing discrimination as it is a Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) organization through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to do other housing discrimination testing.
Summary
NOW THEREFORE Be it ordained by the Council of the City of Toledo:
SECTION 1. That the Mayor is authorized to enter into an agreement with The Fair Housing Center for the purpose...
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