This post is taken from a July 12 CU Indivisible email: Everywhere we turn, there’s heart-sickening news story we feel we can’t to anything about. Today, I have an action you can take that will directly impact our community and make our community a little more fair.
Join us in calling on Champaign City Council to strike Section 17-4.5 from our City Code. Why? It’s a policy AG Jeff Sessions would endorse. This exemption denies too many Champaign residents a fair chance at housing, and our city is the worse for it. It allows landlords to use conviction records to deny our neighbors housing up to 5 years after they have completed their sentence, even when that past record is not related to their tenancy.
CU Indivisible, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has an ally in the Champaign City Council. Because of this exemption, too many Champaign residents have to restart their lives with the deck stacked against them. We know denying someone a fair chance at housing increases the chance that person will reoffend, yet that’s what Section 17-4.5 of Champaign’s City Code does. That’s not what Champaign should stand for.
I know petitions don’t seem to matter in the midst of our news cycle, but this petition matters. We need to have a record of citizens that care about fair chance housing, or the City Council has no reason to listen to us. So— spread this petition to as many as you can, especially to those that live in Champaign.
Sign and share this survey widely: https://goo.gl/forms/tFCEUHzMvxxHiyQ03
From the advice of members, we’ve made our language more accessible. These are arguments you can remember and take into your conversations.
CUP (Champaign Urbana Progressives) 