As a new member of the Livable Communities Act Program with the Metropolitan Council, the City of Shakopee has new access to significant potential funding sources through various grant programs administered by the Met Council for the purposes of community development. These funding sources have helped hundreds of housing and employment projects become reality across the region. Since the program’s inception in 1996, the Met Council has awarded 1,086 grants totaling approximately $400 million to various projects throughout the region. With these opportunities granted from the Met Council, the organization also expects communities that receive support through the program to affirmatively further fair and affordable housing in their communities.

Fair Housing is a concept which was established by the federal government under Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act passed by Congress on April 11, 1968. Since the initial passage of the Act in 1968, the Fair Housing Act has been amended to expand its coverage of protected classes, from the initial coverage based upon race, religion and national origin to include gender, people with disabilities and families with children. The Act places obligations on municipalities to refrain from intentional discrimination based on someone’s protected class status. In addition, municipalities have an obligation to ensure policies and practices do not have greater adverse impact upon a person or a group of people based upon their protected class status. Finally, the Fair Housing Act places an obligation on municipalities that are recipients or sub-recipients of federal funds related to housing or development to affirmatively further fair housing within their boundaries.

The first step to furthering fair housing practices is for the city to officially acknowledge the principles set forth in the Fair Housing Act and to affirm the City’s commitment to providing the resources and support to any of it’s residents who feel their civil rights have been violated. This policy will do just that. The city would be putting fair housing information on the city website and provide resources to be made available from the city, whether in-person or online, for residents to begin a process of filing a fair housing complaint if they believe their rights have been violated. This policy does not call for city staff to handle this process internally, rather it will provide the framework for staff to provide necessary resources and information for residents to officially file complaints with the government agency’s which intake, process and ultimately decide on fair housing complaints; in Minnesota the governing agency for fair housing complaints is the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

Fair housing policies have already been adopted by dozens of communities in the metro region and this policy and others like it, allow for these communities to better serve their residents and open up increased funding opportunities from both the Metropolitan Council and the federal government to further community development and affordable housing goals. If adopted, the City's Fair Housing Policy will bring Shakopee in line with peer cities across the region and offer access to information to better protect residents and open up funding opportunities for future projects.