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Orange County Affordable Housing Advisory Board Minutes <br /> Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 6:00 PM <br /> Southern Human Services Center <br /> 2501 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 <br /> Members Present: Douglas Boemker, Keith Cook (Chair), James Eichel, Tammy <br /> Jacobs, Ellie Kinnaird, Allison Mahaley, Mae McLendon, Adejuwon Ojebuoboh, Noah <br /> Oswald, Blake Rosser, Arthur Sprinczeles, Jenn Sykes, Cain Twyman <br /> Members Absent: Jennifer Moore <br /> Public Present: Olivia Fisher and a Daily Tar Heel reporter <br /> Invited Speaker Present: Annette Moore, Director, Office of Human Rights and <br /> Relations <br /> Staff Present: Emila Sutton, Housing and Community Development Director and Diane <br /> Beecham, Community Development Specialist <br /> I. Call to Order/Introductions — The Chair, Kevin Cook, called the meeting to <br /> order at 6:12 PM. <br /> II. Presentation by Annette Moore, Staff Attorney and Director of Office of <br /> Human Rights and Relations — Ms. Moore stated that the Office of Human <br /> Rights and Relations (OHRR) enforces the Orange County Civil Rights <br /> Ordinance, which is substantially equivalent to the federal Fair Housing Act. <br /> The OHRR has a contract with the federal government to enforce the federal <br /> law and to investigate complaints of discrimination in Orange County. There <br /> are approximately 40,000 complaints a year, most of which are determined to <br /> have no cause. The majority of complaints that have been found to have <br /> cause are disability cases, followed by race-related and national origin cases. <br /> Also, an emerging issue is the increase in sexual harassment in housing <br /> discrimination cases, such as landlords sexually harassing tenants or the <br /> maintenance person trading repairs for sex. It is reported that 98 percent of <br /> sexual harassment cases go unreported. Ms. Moore stated that the OHRR is <br /> very good at investigating complaints and so they are taken very seriously. <br /> As a result, when the OHRR does send out a complaint, the landlord will often <br /> want to immediately settle/resolve the case because they know the OHRR will <br /> continue to pursue it and get results. <br /> Ms. Moore stated that the OHRR is going to embark on an eviction diversion <br /> project and would like to work on it with AHAB. Evictions tend to be cyclical; <br /> once a person is evicted it is very likely to happen again. The purpose of <br /> eviction diversion programs is to insert services and programs to stop the <br /> cycle. First, the OHRR want to do a "deep dive" into the evictions in Orange <br /> County: who is being evicted, who is doing the evictions and where the <br /> Page 1 <br />