April is celebrated as Fair Housing Month by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development in honor of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. As area leaders continue to figure out how to address the lack of affordable housing in the region, the Cape Fear Housing Coalition is taking the initiative with a summit to discuss landlords and fair housing laws.
The public meeting, which is being put on by the CFHC in partnership with the Continuum of Care, the North Carolina Justice Center and the Wilmington Police Department, will be held on Thursday, April 14. Topics to be discussed during the two-hour event, which will start at 9 a.m., include what the rights of landlords and tenants are, how those two groups can communicate in difficult situations (conditions/maintenance of property, approaching landlords without fear of eviction, etc.) and how code enforcement affects rental properties in the area.
Jack Holtzman, the co-director of the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina, will be speaking, along with Tri-County Homeless Interagency Council Administrator Cecelia Peers and WPD Capt. Jack Varrone. It will be held at the New Hanover County Executive Development Center, located at 1241 Military Cutoff Rd. in Wilmington.
The public, including landlords, tenants, stakeholders, community activists and policy makers are invited. No registration is required to attend.
The CFHC has also sponsored a survey on defining affordable housing, which closes this Friday, April 15. The questions were composed by UNCW faculty members, and the results will help the joint City of Wilmington-New Hanover County ad hoc committee that will be formed to help tackle the issue. The survey can be taken online here.
For more information on the Cape Fear Housing Coalition, visit their website.
