Agenda - Council - 08/27/2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Zoning and Land Use Decisions When local governments are called upon to make zoning and land use decisions with respect to proposed affordable housing projects, local citizen opposition may surface. Elected officials, generally speaking, seek to serve the desires of their constituents and will of course be listening to opposition to a project as they would any sort of comment on a proposal. Moreover, local residents may be raising legitimate concerns having nothing to do with affordable housing per se or the likely residents. However, local officials must also be alert to the fair housing implications of their decisions. A governmental body may not escape liability under the Fair Housing Act merely because its discriminatory action was undertaken in response to the desires of a majority of its citizens. 18 For strategies to address neighborhood NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) opposition, see the Minnesota Challenge report, included in the Links/Resources box below. Links/Resources: • Equitable Scorecard, developed by a coalition funded by Headwaters Foundation http://thealliancetc.org/wp- content/uploads/2016/06/EquitableDevelopmentScorecard.pdf • St. Paul's Project and Program Evaluation Tool. (Attached in Appendix) • City of Seattle's Racial Equity Toolkit - http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/RSJI/RacialEquityToolkit_FINAL_A ugust2012.pdf • The MN Challenge to Lower the Cost of Affordable Housing Best Practices: Achieving a Full Range of Housing Choices 18 Mhany Mgt. v. County of Nassau, 819 F 3d 581 (2"d Cir. 2016). 28