Meeting Date: April 1, 2025
To: Mayor & City Council
From: Melissa Hanson, Housing Coordinator
Title
Consider Resolution Proclaiming the month of April 2025 Fair Housing Month.
Body
Action Requested:
Staff Recommends the City Council consider a Resolution Proclaiming the Month of April 2025 as Fair Housing Month in Northfield.
Summary Report:
The City of Northfield adopted a Fair Housing Statement in 2023. (attached) The Fair Housing Statement is meant to be a living document. An annual proclamation acknowledges the importance of Fair Housing and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to our community. An annual proclamation also acknowledges that there are still barriers to equal housing and our community actively works to break those barriers down. An annual proclamation also fulfills the City’s obligation to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing as a recipient of Federal Funds through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
The Housing and Redevelopment Authority has moved support for the attached Resolution Proclaiming the Month of April 2025 as Fair Housing Month in Northfield. (attached)
On April 11, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which was meant as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 1968 Act expanded on previous acts and prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, (and as amended) handicap and family status. Title VIII of the Act is also known as the Fair Housing Act (of 1968).
The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing because of:
• Race
• Color
• National Origin
• Religion
• Sex (including gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual harassment)
• Familial Status (marital status)
• Disability
The Minnesota Human Rights Act, or MHRA, is the state’s civil rights statute. Analogous to the federal Fair Housing Act, it has protections against discrimination in public and private housing, as well as lending and public accommodations. However, the MHRA adds additional protections for residents of Minnesota in a number of important ways. First, it adds the following additional protected classes:
• Status with Regard to Public Assistance
• Creed
It also extends the reach of the law to housing providers of properties not covered by the Fair Housing Act, such as owner-occupied fourplexes and, in some cases, those who rent out rooms in their home.
Over the course of 54 years, the law has made a difference in the lives of countless families and communities. However, the truth of the matter is that we have not fully achieved the goals of the Fair Housing Act.
Many of our neighborhoods remain as segregated today as they were in the middle of the 20th century, and the racial wealth gap is wider now than it was when the Fair Housing act was passed. It is our shared duty to work together to ensure that every person has equitable access to all of the opportunities our community provides and that no one faces barriers to getting a good education, having quality health care, eating healthy food, or finding stable employment that allows their family to thrive solely because of where they live. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted and exacerbated the lack of safe, affordable places to live for far too many people in America.
As a community, we are committed to doing all we can to end unlawful housing discrimination and advance equity for all underserved populations, fulfill the full promise of the Fair Housing Act.
Alternative Options:
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April is recognized nationally as Fair Housing Month