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DESPITE PROGRESS, LGBTQ+ HOMEOWNERS STILL FACE CHALLENGES

In honor of both LGBTQ+ Pride Month and National Homeownership Month, we are taking a deeper dive into the experiences of LGBTQ+ homeowners, examining challenges and barriers that still persist, and offering recommendations for increasing equity in housing opportunities.

Know Your Fair Housing Rights

Tuesday, July 30, 2024 | 6PM – 8PM ET | Noble Branch Library

(2800 Noble Road, Cleveland, OH 44121)

Interested in learning more about your rights and responsibilities under fair housing law? Register to attend this training, presented by the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research and the City of Cleveland Heights. Registration is free, but required in order to attend.

Lorain County Fair Housing Law Training

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 | 5:30PM – 7:30PM | Lorain Public Library – Domonkas Branch (4125 E. Lake Road, Sheffield Lake, OH 44054)

If you are a homeowner, renter, or landlord, come learn more about fair housing law at this free seminar, presented by the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research and Lorain County.

Fair Housing Law Overview

Tuesday, September 10, 2024 | 6PM – 8PM | Garfield Heights Civic Center

(5407 Turney Rd., Garfield Heights, OH 44125)

If you are interested in learning more about your rights and responsibilities under fair housing law, please attend this free seminar, presented by the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research and the City of Garfield Heights.

Topics that will be covered include:

Federal, State, and Local Fair Housing Laws
Protected Classes
Additional Protections for People with Disabilities
Prohibited Acts
Emerging Issues
Goals of Fair Housing

See all upcoming events

Staff Spotlights

Andrew Shenal, Research Intern

Andrew Shenal joined the Fair Housing Center in May 2024. In the research team, he performs data analysis and writing to support the research of barriers to fair housing, along with other topics of discrimination and compliance.

Currently, Andrew attends Kent State University to obtain a B.A. in Environmental Studies. His current research projects there focus on creating data and earth observation tools to support Indigenous communities in California and analyzing agricultural water pollution surrounding Lake Erie.

In the future Andrew hopes to attend graduate school and continue working at nonprofits to make the world a more equitable place for all.

Megan Crow, Director of Client Advocacy

Megan Crow joins the Fair Housing Center with a rich background in leading initiatives and programs dedicated to assisting homeless individuals and families. During the pandemic, Megan successfully led teams to help people experiencing homelessness transition into stable housing. She also directed programs specifically designed to support homeless families and single-handedly implemented a program to aid unsheltered homeless individuals.

Megan firmly believes in the right to fair, safe, and affordable housing for everyone, regardless of race, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic. Her dedication to advocacy is rooted in her personal experiences of helping individuals become stably housed, only to witness them return to homelessness due to evictions or unlivable conditions. This inspired her to focus on preventing homelessness through fair housing advocacy.

Meet our team!

Recent Reports

2024 State of Fair Housing in Northeast Ohio

In April, The Fair Housing Center released the 2024 State of Fair Housing in Northeast Ohio report. This report is the Fair Housing Center’s eighteenth annual comprehensive examination of fair housing trends for Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina Counties. The report finds that 56 years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, housing discrimination persists in Northeast Ohio.

Learn more!

Retrofitting Racial Disparities: Home Improvement Lending Outcomes in Cuyahoga County

In May, The Fair Housing Center released a first-of-its-kind report examining access to home improvement loans in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The findings suggest institutional racism in the Cuyahoga County home improvement lending market undermines Black homeowners’ ability to experience the same degree of benefits from homeownership as white homeowners.

Learn more!

NFHA Releases 2024 Trends Report

This month, the National Fair Housing Alliance released its 2024 Fair Housing Trends Report. There were 34,150 fair housing complaints in 2023, the highest number of fair housing complaints recorded since NFHA began producing its Trends Report in the mid-1990s. Private nonprofit fair housing organizations processed the vast majority (75.52 percent) of these complaints, underscoring the need for lawmakers to allocate sustainable funding to support their critical work. Read the full report here and use the interactive map to find out how many instances of housing discrimination were reported in your state.

RECAP: "Just Action" Event with Leah Rothstein

On May 7, 2024, we partnered with ThirdSpace Action Lab to host "Just Action" author Leah Rothstein for an important community conversation on dismantling segregation and achieving housing justice. Ms. Rothstein shared her insights into how we can take action to make housing fair and equitable. Additionally, The Fair Housing Center's Austin Cummings spoke on the current state of fair housing in Northeast Ohio, and ThirdSpace Action Lab's Curtis Minter, Jr. introduced The People's Practice — an initiative for anti-racist community development.

We extend our gratitude to Leah, Austin, and Curtis for their time and willingness to speak on these important topics, and to everyone who attended. Seeing so many community members come out to engage in discussion about housing justice reaffirmed what we already knew — that together, a better future is possible.

If you missed the event, you can still watch the recording here: https://www.facebook.com/thehousingcenter/videos/346568244710008

ICYMI: News You Should Know About

Divided Supreme Court rules in major homelessness case that outdoor sleeping bans are OK (AP News)

Cleveland’s Exterior Paint Program to reopen applications this summer (Signal Cleveland)

The first national calculation of mortality of the US homeless population (CEPR / VoxEU)

Decades of Disinvestment: Historic Redlining and Mortgage Lending Since 1981 (NCRC)

Racist flyers found in Hough neighborhood (Signal Cleveland)

Cleveland BIPOC households face bigger rent burden than white counterparts (Crain's Cleveland Business)

Signal Cleveland traced the landlords of 100 Cleveland area rentals to Sweden. Find out what we learned. (Signal Cleveland)

Lake County mobile home park residents say they're tired of sewage, alleged racial discrimination (Ideastream)

HUD Reaches Groundbreaking Settlement with The Appraisal Foundation to Ensure Equal Opportunity in the Appraisal Profession (HUD)

Housing Discrimination Complaints Continue to Trend Upward (NFHA)

Thank you to our donors!

Your support makes this work possible. We would like to recognize and thank our donors for their generous support of our work in 2023:

Diane Citrino
Dawson Family Donor Advised Fund
Jonathan Entin
Laura Fogarty
Lauren Grigoryev
Anne Hydock
Bob Kissling
Allison Kretz
Lawrence Lanahan
Mara Layne
CARLETON MOORE!
Charlotte Nichols
Richard Obermanns
Carrie Pleasants
Jim Pleasants
Douglas & Susan Roberts
Mark Salling
Peter Zach Schiller
Phil Star & Jane Peterson
J. Rosie Tighe
Carmella Williams
Sherwin Williams
Westfield Insurance Foundation

Are you a supporter of fair housing who is interested in taking the next step and becoming a donor? Visit www.thehousingcenter.org/give to learn how you can support fair housing!

Become a donor!

About Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research

The Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research (The Fair Housing Center) is a nonprofit fair housing organization whose mission is to protect and expand fair housing rights, eliminate housing discrimination, and promote integrated communities. The Fair Housing Center has been in existence for 35 years, beginning as the Metropolitan Strategy Group in 1983.

The federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of a dwelling on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability. The purpose of the law is to eliminate housing discrimination and promote residential integration.

For more information visit www.thehousingcenter.org.

Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research | 2728 Euclid Ave., Suite 200, Cleveland, OH 44115

(216) 361-9240 | www.thehousingcenter.org