REMINDER: Register for our March meeting this week!

We will have our round table discussion this month which has been a very popular meeting in the past. Bring your ideas/questions and comments to the group to discuss and this can help us with idea for future speakers/topics.

The event is free but you can order dinner for $13 per person.

Please click this link to get more details and visit our registration page

http://landlordsoflinncounty.org/event-registration/?ee=18

Sorry for the short notice but when the 1st of the month is the first Thursday of the month, our meeting sneaks up on us quickly!

We will have our round table discussion this month which has been a very popular meeting in the past. Bring your ideas/questions and comments to the group to discuss and this can help us with idea for future speakers/topics.

The event is free but you can order dinner for $13 per person.

Please click this link to get more details and visit our registration page

http://landlordsoflinncounty.org/event-registration/?ee=18

Please register if you haven’t for the February Mtg at the Clarion at 6pm. Dinner is 13.00. Please join us!

Dear Friends, Colleagues, Neighbors and Fellow Advocates:

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The Mayor and City Council of Cedar Rapids are slated to hold a public hearing on December 6 about amending the local civil rights code. As you may know from attending workshops and focus groups, the changes include incorporating select ADA provisions and standards, forbidding housing discrimination based on receipt of SSI, SSDI, veteran’s benefits and other lawful sources of income, and providing across the board coverage for protected classes in all covered activities. The major changes are noted below and described more fully in the attachments.

If you are interested in any of these issues, please contact the Mayor and City Council, post a blog, email, Facebook message, tweet or other message to your friends and neighbors, attend the Dec 6 (and Dec 20) hearings, send a letter or written testimony, or compose a letter to the editor.

Here is link to the web page that includes contact information for the Mayor and City Councilors:

http://www.cedar-rapids.org/city-council/mayor-council/Pages/default.aspx

The Commission believes the changes are important in order to comply with state law, to continue receiving federal funds, to strengthen substantive protections and enhance local enforcement capabilities, and to signal that Cedar Rapids is an even more welcoming and inclusive community in which to live, visit, and do business.  The amended code:

• Protects individuals from housing discrimination based on the person’s lawful source of income, including veteran’s benefits, child support, worker’s compensation, social security benefits, etc.

• Fills coverage “gaps” by extending civil rights protections to all protected classes of individuals in credit, education, employment, housing, and public accommodations.  Lawful source of income protections only apply to housing.

• Holds designers and builders of multi-family dwellings and public accommodations responsible for meeting Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility standards until compliance is achieved.

• Provides for local enforcement of several Americans with Disabilities Act public accommodations provisions, including accessibility, readily achievable barrier removal, reasonable accommodations and other requirements.  Applies to private and governmental activities and facilities.

• Spells out the rights and responsibilities of persons with disabilities to be accompanied by or live with animals that assist, support, or provide or perform a disability-related service or task.

• Protects individuals from discrimination based on association with someone in a protected class.

• Protects persons who file a complaint or lawfully oppose an unfair or discriminatory practice from retaliatory acts.

• Streamlines administration and enforcement.

• Extends the deadline for filing an administrative complaint to 300 days for credit, education, employment, and public accommodation complaints, and to one year for housing complaints.

For more information, contact the Civil Rights Commission, 425 Second Street SE, Suite 960 Cedar Rapids, IA 52401by calling (319) 286-5036, faxing to 319-286-5136, sending an email to civilrights@cedar-rapids.org or visiting the Commission website, http://www.cedar-rapids.org/government/departments/civil-rights/pages/default.aspx

Regards,

If you’d like a printable flyer for the annual Christmas Party you can download a copy here:

Christmas Party 2011 Flyer

How often do you have a conversation with one of your renters that their rent will be late? Their car broke down and they had to pay for the repair. They missed work due to an unexpected illness. They lost their job, their grandma died, and on and on.

Horizons Of Cedar Rapids offers Consumer Credit Counseling, and is an excellent resource for renters who are living from one paycheck to the next. Scott Shook is the Director of Consumer Credit Counseling Services for Horizons and will be speaking to our group Thursday night on landlord tenant scenarios and where help can be found.

http://landlordsoflinncounty.org/event-registration/?regevent_action=register&event_id=11&name_of_event=NewHorizons

Our guest speaker for our August meeting will be Bruce Vander Sanden from t he 6th

Judicial Dept. of  Correction Services of Iowa.  He is currently a Division Manager

 and oversees the high risk unit, sex offender program, offender workforce development

prison re-entry and community service/volunteer  programs.  Bruce is also the president

elect of the Iowa Corrections Assoc.  He will be speaking on issues of prision re-entry

 offenders and those with criminal records face in finding housing.  He will also tell us

about the supervision they must abide by and the potential for partners for housing

authorities and landlords.

Thursday Aug 11th is out next monthly meeting and hear our speaker Bruce Vander Sanden talk about prisoner re-entry into housing.

The meeting will be held at the Clarion and there is no cost for the event BUT you must pre-order your dinner.

Click to learn more and register below:

Click Here to register