The City of Elgin has agreed to pay $29,500 to 12 Hispanic individuals and couples to settle complaints against the city over alleged unfair enforcement of its housing code.
The payments arise from an August 2002 agreement between Elgin, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Wheaton-based HOPE Fair Housing Center involving 20 complaints going back several years.
The complaints involved allegations that Elgin’s enforcement of housing rules discriminated against Hispanics, a charge the city has always denied.
Elgin Corporation Counsel William Cogley said the city agreed to provide compensation in cases in which enforcement was applied to situations that existed before procedures and codes had been revised.
Jeffrey Taren, an attorney for HOPE, said the financial settlement comes after a year and a half of negotiations. Although the compensation appears modest, he said, the case was about fairness, not money.
“These complaints were filed for reasons of justice, and most of the people we represented all along have said they just wanted to be treated fairly and wanted others to be treated fairly,” Taren said. “This is not a case where anyone is getting any windfall. The money has always been secondary.”
The largest single amount went to Sabrina Roman, who was awarded $7,000. She initially sought $12,500.
According to her complaint, a city inspector forced Roman and her 2-year-old son to leave their home on 15 minutes’ notice Dec. 9, 1999, after the inspector found a mattress in her basement. Roman, who was eight months pregnant at the time, was allowed to return the next day. Roman could not be reached for comment.
The rest of the claims were settled for amounts ranging from $1,000 to $4,000.
Cogley maintained that the city did not engage in discrimination. Similarly, Elgin admitted no wrongdoing or discrimination as part of the 2002 HUD agreement.
The city has refused to settle eight other HOPE complaints. Of these, two will go to binding arbitration. Cogley said no one contested the other six cases.
One pending case involves a family that was forced to leave their home because the city prohibited them from using an upstairs room as a bedroom, Taren said. The family contended the room had been used that way for over 20 years, Taren said.
The $29,500 was part of $100,000 the city had set aside to settle the HOPE claims.
