Fair Housing: Preparing for the Future

The 2026 UIC Law Fair Housing Conference will focus on current issues involving fair housing enforcement. The conference will challenge participants to think about the right to fair housing as it can be developed in the future by considering how other societies and legal systems are defining a broader right to housing.

Speakers will discuss how people with disabilities can enforce the right to accessible housing, how homeowners and renters can be assured access to fair and affordable insurance, and how vulnerable persons can be protected against discriminatory evictions. We will also look at the 50-year history of the Community Reinvestment Act.

The federal government is redefining fair housing enforcement. What does that mean for protected classes and how can we ensure a future that fulfills the vision promised in the Fair Housing Act?

We invite you to participate in this important discussion.

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9:00 to 9:20 a.m. Welcome and Introduction

Nicky Boothe, Dean, UIC School of Law

Michael Seng, Director, UIC Fair Housing Legal Support Center

F. Willis Caruso, Professor Emeritus, UIC School of Law

9:20 to 10:45 a.m. Looking to Other Systems to Protect Housing Rights

Address: Maros Matiasko, Palacky University, Czech Republic

Comments: Alisa Warren, Immediate Past President of IAOHRA

10:45 to 11:00 a.m. Break

11:00 to 12:00 p.m. An Update on Fair Housing Law

Robert Schwemm, Professor Emeritus, University of Kentucky

12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00 to 1:30 p.m. Fair Housing Jeopardy

Julie Nepveu, Senior Attorney, AARP Foundation Litigation

1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Effective enforcement of Fair Housing in the Trump Era

Chris Brancart, Partner, Brancart & Brancart

Amy Nelson, Executive Director, Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana

John Relman, Partner, Relman Colfax, PLLC

3:00 to 3:15 p.m. Break

3:15 to 4:45 p.m. Ensuring Universal Design, Reasonable Accommodations, and Modifications for Persons with Disabilities

Michael Allen, Partner, Relman Colfax, PLLC

Liza Cristol-Deman, Senior Counsel, McGuinness Law Group, PC

Sara Pratt, Consultant

Ken Walden, Managing Attorney, Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago

5:00 p.m. Reception

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9:00 to 10:30 a.m. Panel: Ensuring Homeowners and Rental Insurance in an Uncertain

Environment (Organized by Greg Squires)

Stella Adams, CEO, S J Adams Consulting

Douglas Heller, Director of Insurance, Consumer Federation of America

Caroline Nagy, Associate Director for Housing Policy, Americans for Financial

Reform

10:30 to 10:45 a.m. Break

10:45 to 12:00 p.m. Celebrating 50 Years of the CRA: Where Do We Go from Here?

Calvin Bradford, Senior Research Fellow, Woodstock Institute

Jane Doyle, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Woodstock Institute

Serrater Chapman, Director of Applied Research, Woodstock Institute

12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00 to 1:30 p.m. Evicting the American Dream

Mark Swartz, Executive Director, Law Center for Better Housing

1:30 to 2:30 p.m. New Protections for Housing Voucher Holders

Heather Abraham, Director SUNY-University at Buffalo School of Law

Diane Houk, Of Counsel, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP

2:30 to 2:45 p.m. Break

2:45 to 4:00 p.m. Setting a Fair Housing Agenda for a Post-Trumpian American

Janell Byrd-Chichester, General Counsel, National Fair Housing Alliance

Diane Houk

Amy Nelson

Sara Pratt

Gary Rhoades, Executive Director, Heartland Center for Jos and Freedom

Alisa Warren

4:00 p.m. End of Conference