Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Fair Housing Testing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Office of Human Rights to release updated fair-housing testing showing source-of-income issues; staff seek investigator hires
Summary
Arlington’s Office of Human Rights said it will soon release the results of a new fair-housing testing study that expanded the bases tested to include source of income and disability. The office also said it is recruiting two human-rights investigators to handle complaints and EEO work.
Arlington County’s Office of Human Rights (OHR) briefed the County Board on March 13 about an updated fair-housing testing study and the office’s capacity needs to investigate discrimination complaints.
OHR Director Gurjeet Sheema said the office contracted Equal Rights Center (ERC) to perform 65 tests across 56 properties. Unlike older testing that focused mainly on race and national origin, the new ERC engagement added source-of-income, disability and familial-status testing.
Key findings and next steps - Source-of-income findings: Sheema said early results identified concerns about property managers or landlords who said they would not accept tenant-based rental assistance (that is, vouchers or other third-party payments). OHR said that finding points to a need for more outreach and education about source-of-income protections. - Expanded testing scope: OHR staff deliberately broadened the study beyond earlier practice. Testing covered multiple protected categories and a range of property types; the office plans to publish the ERC report within a few weeks. - Staffing shortfalls: OHR reported two investigator vacancies (the office has five FTEs in total). Sheema said the office had struggled for months to recruit investigators with the specialized skills and writing experience needed to produce legally defensible determinations; interviews were scheduled in the days after the meeting. - Enforcement and training: OHR said it will continue fair-housing testing on a biannual schedule and pair testing with landlord outreach and training. The office also provides internal EEO training for county employees and ADA-accommodation support for staff.
Why it matters Fair-housing enforcement is a county responsibility under the Arlington Human Rights Ordinance; OHR said federal enforcement capacity has declined and that local enforcement and outreach will become more important if federal resources continue to shrink.
What OHR asked of the board Sheema urged continued financial support for fair-housing testing and for staffing to ensure timely investigation of complaints and increased landlord outreach. OHR also signaled it will share the ERC testing report with the board once finalized.
Ending note: OHR said it expects the ERC report within weeks and will continue to combine testing with targeted landlord outreach and training; the board requested the final report be delivered to members when complete.
