The city of Chattanooga will hold its first “Fair Housing Conference” this Friday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Fair Housing Act and to help individuals identify and report instances of housing discrimination.
Several cities across Tennessee, including Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville, are also holding fair housing events, said James McKissic, senior adviser to the mayor and director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs for the city. The conference will include sessions centered on educating the public about Fair Housing laws, especially to help women, people of color, persons with disabilities, immigrants and LGBT Chattanoogans.
Chattanooga Fair Housing Conference
From 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 20The conference will include breakout sessions that will educate the public on how to identify and report local housing discrimination as well as a luncheon and keynote speaker Kristen Jeffers.At the moment, the event is full but currently accepting people on a waitlist.For more information about the event, visit eventbrite.com/e/chattanooga-fair-housing-conference-tickets-39521433672.For more information on how to file a housing complaint, visit the city’s website at chattanooga.gov/component/content/article/36-economic-community-development/1540-filing-a-complaint.
The free, public event will be held at the Edney Innovation Center downtown and currently has a waitlist. In the past five years, there have been 49 complaints of housing discrimination in Hamilton County reported to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A majority of the issues reported centered around race and disability, and about 20 of the complaints were closed without a determination or settlement.
“Keep in mind those were the people empowered enough to report it,” McKissic said. “A lot of times housing discrimination happens and they don’t even realize it’s happening to them.”