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 Compliance with Requirements for Accessibility, Reasonable Accommodations and Reasonable Modifications for People 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-Trump America

• Janell Byrd-Chichester, General Counsel, National Fair Housing Alliance
• Diane L. Houk, Partner, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP
• Amy Nelson, Executive Director, Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana
• Sara Pratt, Consultant
• Gary Rhoades, Executive Director, Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom
• Alisa Warren, Immediate Past President of IAOHRA

4:00 p.m. End of Conference