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."
McKissic said housing discrimination can include landlords charging Latino renters more than others, or landlords with no units left when immigrants inquire but they have plenty for native-born Americans. Chattanooga faces many of the similar issues that other cities in Tennessee face, according to McKissic.
In the past year, the city of Chattanooga has also fielded more than 140 local calls of housing complaints from landlords, tenants, HUD and other community resources and organizations.
Kristen Jeffers, who refers to herself as a "Black Urbanist," will be the luncheon speaker for the fair housing event. Jeffers is a writer, urban planner and advocate who helps communities across the country discuss housing possibilities and issues.
Jeffers said she wants to challenge landlords and developers to rethink service provision and what it means to provide a good home for someone.
"A lot of people use homes as investment vehicles and not as providing shelter or a service," she said. "People have options and you still have to provide good services - not just make money off the backs of other people."
Jeffers urges communities to develop a better balance between how we develop and how we maintain an area. For people who want to stay in a neighborhood, it's about educating them on the things they need to know to stay in that home and that community, she said. For people moving into a neighborhood, it's about supporting the current "ecosystem."
"Do your best to come into that ecosystem in a way that doesn't disrupt it," she said. "Get to know your neighbors. Say hello. Be a part of the community as much as possible."
Contact staff writer Allison Shirk at ashirk@timesfreepress.com, 423-757-6651 or @Allison_Shirk.