Madison’s homeless population is one step closer to being protected from discrimination as a protected class after Economic Development Committee members approved a movement in a Wednesday meeting.
If implemented, Madison would be the first city to classify homeless people as protected. Ald. Anita Weier, District 18, sponsored the ordinance amendment and addressed discrimination in the business environment.
Weier said the homeless face discrimination in both housing and employment, particularly in needing an address to apply for a job.
Currently, the city does not have jurisdiction to examine cases of discrimination against the homeless.
Her colleagues, Lucía Nuñez, director of the Department of Civil Rights, and Bill Fetty, president of the Equal Opportunities Commission, clarified that they have to determine many aspects of a case, primarily finding a connection between being homeless and experiencing discrimination. The burden of proof is on the complainant, not the city.
Nuñez said another area of concern is when an establishment has a set rule, but only applies it to certain groups of people based on appearance.
“Protected classes do not exempt [people] from following the rules,” Nuñez said.
Despite questions of whether too many individuals were being added to the protected class, the committee approved the classification and referred the issue to Common Council.
The city then discussed the two-year downtown planning effort. Bill Fruhling, the principal planner with the city of Madison planning department, discussed his plans to examine the State Street and Capitol Square area.
Committee member Ed Clarke raised concerns around retail trends of State Street, and Ald. Mark Clear, District 19, said solutions to the noise pollution problems could be drawn up in said plan.
Ald. John Strasser, District 14, also raised concerns about the project size.
“In the scale of things, how big of a project is this for the work load it puts on your staff?” Strasser asked.
Fruhling said the work will be distributed across the city and related committees. The committee then approved and referred the project.
The committee also approved a $300,000 potentially forgivable loan to incentivize a full-service affordable grocer to build in the Allied Drive neighborhood.
