In 2019 Champaign City Council amended its “Housing Discrimination” city code policy to become less discriminatory. Prior to the amendment, landlords were allowed to discriminate against individuals who had been released from incarceration within the previous 5 years and opt not to rent to that person, citing their criminal background.
Council member Alicia Beck spearheaded an attempt to eliminate that policy from the city code. The resulting compromise which took effect in November of 2019 was to lower the term from five years to two, adjust the verbiage around certain types of crime, and remove the word “discrimination” from the name of the policy itself. Even while agreeing to this compromise, Beck and other members of the council stated fervently that this amendment should serve as a first step to a complete repeal as soon as possible, more than two years ago. The amendment still allows landlords the ability to discriminate, though over a shorter window and without calling it discrimination.
When a person is convicted of a crime, they are sentenced to punishment as the judge sees fit under legal standards and precedent. They serve their time, and if it all goes well, they are released back into society as scheduled; all debts are paid. Perhaps things don’t go quite as well, and they find themselves in more trouble during their time served. Their sentence is extended, but eventually they mind their p’s and q’s and are released into society; still, all debts are paid.
Nonetheless, people rebuilding their lives after being convicted of a crime are faced with a multitude of challenges in rejoining society. They need to adjust to a world that has likely changed since they’ve been isolated from it; to nurture and re-establish relationships long lost due to the strain of the crime committed, or the time served; to get a job that will allow them to sustain themselves, despite the judgement prospective employers tend to lay on those with a criminal background. They face these issues while also tending to a looming question: where will they lay their heads?
Housing for those who don’t have family or friends to rely on for this necessity is critically limited, not just in Champaign but across the state. Many people turn to homeless shelters for lack of a better option, and many find themselves in a cycle of recidivism because they are unable to meet their most basic needs in the outside world.
After struggling to find and secure short-term housing, they may get a job that allows them the privilege of seeking longer-term solutions. Someone who has made this accomplishment in less than two years, especially in a city with housing costs as high as they are in Champaign, deserves praise from the society they’ve successfully rejoined. But in Champaign, they face discrimination. A landlord can note their proof of income and positive references and then still determine that renting to them poses a financial risk, based solely on the fact that they recently finished paying their debt to society.
No such policy exists in neighboring Urbana; in fact, such a policy would be in violation of Urbana’s Human Rights Ordinance. One might say, “They can rent in Urbana, and that should be enough.” But this ousting of formerly incarcerated people from living on their own in Champaign provides unnecessary hurdles, where enough hurdles already exist. They may work in Champaign, outside of public transit operating hours and may not have a car. They may have a personal support system in Champaign, helping them stay on track and avoid trouble that beckons to them. No matter what the challenges might be, people who were formerly incarcerated have just as much of a right to choose to live in Champaign as anyone else.
Still, two years and five months later, and despite stated intentions to return to this topic, Alicia Beck and the Champaign City Council have turned a blind eye to those being discriminated against in their search for housing; during a pandemic, no less. These elected officials refuse to respond to public comments inquiring about their intention to repeal the policy and are tightlipped about housing discrimination overall. Based on the 2021 changes in the makeup of the council due to elections, they could have the votes to eliminate this practice from the Champaign City Code if they choose to raise the issue. Instead, they continue to allow the rights of formerly incarcerated individuals to be tossed aside.
We cannot allow this to continue any longer. We must end housing discrimination in Champaign, once and for all.
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