Snohomish County’s Human Services Department is gathering input on community residents’ experiences when trying to find housing for purchase or rent.

Specifically, it’s conducting an online survey to measure the impacts of potential housing discrimination and housing choice in Snohomish County. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires communities receiving federal funding for housing and development activities to analyze barriers to housing choice.

Snohomish County is conducting the study because it receives more than $5 million annually in federal grants from the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership and Emergency Shelter Grant programs. These funds are used to support affordable housing and community development projects for low-income people, families and neighborhoods.

Through the results of the survey, and a series of community meetings and focus groups being planned for January, the county’s Human Services Department is looking to identify housing barriers and ways to improve access.

Two versions of the survey are available. One version is for residents, while the other survey is for social service and housing providers, as well as real estate professionals including landlords, property managers, real estate agents and lenders.

The survey for residents can be found at http://svy.mk/t8frGw. A Spanish-language version of the residents’ survey is available at http://svy.mk/s0SygK. The stakeholder survey may be completed at http://svy.mk/sgGrgR.

Paper copies and translated copies of the resident surveys in Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic and Somali also are available upon request from the Human Services Department. Service and housing providers may also request paper copies of the resident surveys for program participants.

For additional information, contact Sue Tracy at sue.tracy@snoco.org or at 425-388-3269.