Policy Focus

Policy Brief: Black Illinoisans Eight Times More Likely to Experience Homelessness Than White Illinoisans

Black Illinoisans are disproportionately more likely to experience homelessness compared to White Illinoisans, even among those living in poverty. While 14% of our state population is Black, 30% of Illinoisans experiencing poverty and 59% of Illinoisans experiencing homelessness are Black. Our new policy brief calculates racial equity severity scores for regions across the state and offers policy recommendations that will begin to address systems of inequity and make progress toward ending homelessness.

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Oppose Proposed Changes to Fair Housing "Disparate Impact" Rule

We urge you to comment in opposition to the Trump Administration's proposed changes to HUD's fair housing “Disparate Impact” rule, which would place virtually all of the burden of proving discrimination on people who are in protected classes as defined by the Fair Housing Act—people of color, women, immigrants, families with children, people with disabilities, LGBTQ persons, and people of faith. The changes are designed to make it much more difficult, if not impossible, for people in protected classes to challenge and overcome discriminatory effects in housing policies or practices. The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) has prepared a sample comment letter to respond to the drastic changes.

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Are You Coming to Our Conference?

If you haven't registered for our annual conference yet, sign up now! During two packed days, participants get updates on the latest issues in affordable housing and homelessness, hear from leaders in the field, learn best practices, and network. Last year, we hit capacity, and we hope to do so again.

This year, we're particularly excited for our opening plenary with journalists J. Brian Charles and Dan Vock, who spent six months investigating segregation in the heartland. Check out this year's workshop topics and schedule.

Housing Counselor Dispatch

Getting the Word Out on Social Media

The HUD Office of Housing Counseling has a new social media toolkit available for download. The toolkit offers a variety of content to help housing counseling agencies post on Facebook and Twitter. The kit includes pre-written posts that are easy to customize, as well an associated image for each post.