Attachment B

County of San Mateo

Fair Housing Action Plan 2004 – 2008

As a result of two public meetings held on June 10 and November 14, 2004, on the Countywide Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice, completed by Project Sentinel in June 2004, the following are fair housing strategies to guide the County for the next five years:

Policy:

Continue to support local efforts at counteracting NIMBYism over proposed housing developments utilizing smart growth principles.

Landlord/Tenant Education:

1. Continue to support efforts at educating landlords and tenants on importance and legality of maintaining rental housing in habitable condition.

2. Continue to support efforts to educate landlords, and special needs populations that may fall outside the legally protected classes, about housing rights for special needs persons; this group includes seniors; disabled persons; youth and young adults; the formerly incarcerated; the mentally ill; and others. (The federal fair housing law specifically prohibits discrimination in housing practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. The California fair housing act prohibits harassment or discrimination because of age (40+), ancestry, color, creed, disability (including HIV and AIDS), marital status, medical condition, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.)

3. Continue to support education of local planning and building officials and landlords about State enabling laws and local legal provisions that encourage and facilitate the establishment of family child care homes.

4. Support efforts to educate landlords, when marketing their vacancies, to broaden their consideration of income sources in qualifying potential renters.

Housing for the Disabled:

Encourage the construction and rehabilitation of housing incorporating universal housing design principles, which benefit persons with disabilities.

Attachment B

Support efforts to improve information flow about accessibility design requirements for new and substantially rehabilitated housing, from the federal and State levels to the local planning and building inspection tiers.

Transportation

Support the development of transportation systems for seniors and the disabled, which system can better connect them from their homes to existing public transportation nodes.

Lending Practices:

Continue to support education efforts in targeted neighborhoods regarding predatory lending practices and redlining, both of which tend to occur in low-income minority communities.

Performance of Fair Housing Agencies:

Support the development of performance measures to track progress of fair housing agencies in fair housing enforcement.