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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-16-1997 - 5b 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Action Agenda Item No. 5-b ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 16, 1997 SUBJECT: Proclamation Of Fair Housing Month In Orange County DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC HEARING: Yes xx No Human Relations Commission BUDGET AMENDMENT: Yes No Housing and Community Development ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: • Proclamation Lucy Lewis, ext. 2250 Tara Fikes, ext. 2490 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough - 732 -8181 Chapel Hill - 967-9251 Mebane - 227-2031 Durham - 688-7331 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PURPOSE: To adopt a proclamation officially recognizing April 1997 as Fair Housing Month in Orange County. BACKGROUND: April has been designated nationwide as Fair Housing Month to bring awareness to the protections provided under the Federal Fair Housing Act. The Orange County Human Relations Commission enforces the Orange County Civil Rights Ordinance, which prohibits and addresses discriminatory housing practices. Further, the Orange County Housing and Community Development Department, as a recipient of Community Development funds and as a participant in other HUD funded programs, is required to inform the public of Federal and State fair housing protections. Therefore, in recognition of Fair Housing Month, these two county agencies present the following proclamation. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the proclamation and authorize the Chair to sign. 2 PROCLAMATION FAIR HOUSING MONTH WHEREAS, April, 1997 marks the twenty-ninth anniversary of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, the Federal Fair Housing Act, which provided for equal opportunity for all Americans in the sale, rental and financing of housing and prohibited housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age or national origin; and WHEREAS, the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 added familial status and handicap to those classes protected by Title VII and added strong new rights, remedies, monetary penalties and judicial and administrative enforcement procedures; and WHEREAS, although there is evidence that significant progress has been made in ensuring equal opportunity in housing for all Americans, recent studies have shown that housing discrimination remains a pervasive and insidious problem faced by millions of Americans because of their race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, familial status, veteran's status, or disability; and WHEREAS, illegal barriers to equal opportunity ill housing that diminish the rights of some of our citizens, diminish the rights of all; NOW, THEREFORE, do we, the Commissioners of Orange County, proclaim the month of April, 1997 as FAIR HOUSING MONTH and commend this observance to all Orange County citizens. This the 16th day of April, 1997. William L. Crowther, Chair Board of Commissioners