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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-01-1996 - V-D 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Action Agenda Item No. ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 1, 1996 SUBJECT: Proclamation Of Fair Housing Month In Orange County ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT: PUBLIC HEARING: Yes zz 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 1996 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. The HRC staff will also present information regarding housing discrimination at the Orange Community Housing Corporation seminar for first-time home buyers on April 10th. [The Housing and Community Development staff has completed a preliminary assessment of"Impediments to Fair Housing"that exist in Orange County. The next step in the process is the development of an Action Plan to address the identified fair housing issues.] RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the proclamation and authorize the Chair to sign 2 PROCLAMATION FAIR HOUSING MONTH WHEREAS, April, 1996 marks the twenty-eighth 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, numerous studies have shown that housing discrimination is as pervasive, if not more so, than in 1968, and far more insidious than ever before; and WHEREAS, illegal barriers to equal opportunity in 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, 1996, as FAIR HOUSING MONTH and commend this observance to all Orange County citizens. This the 1 st day of April, 1996. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Board of Commissioners