Residents got to speak up Wednesday during a Fair Housing Community Input Session held by the city’s community development department.
The session, the second of three such events to be held in the city, took place at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church during the church’s community meal.
The department is gathering input from citizens for the city’s upcoming five-year fair housing plan.
“We’re just trying to really get out there and get our faces out there so people know who we are,” said Martha Woelke, the city’s community development administrator. “And we can’t solve every problem. We know there’s a lack of housing overall so we’re working on things.”
Matt Snow, who also attended the event, is the fair housing officer for the city.
According to information provided by Woelke, “fair housing laws protect you from housing discrimination based on a protected class. Fair housing laws cover almost every aspect of the housing market, including applications, rentals, purchases, loans, and insurance for housing.”
Protected classes include race, color, national origin, sex, religion, familial status, disability, military status (which is a State of Ohio protection), sexual orientation, gender identity, and source of income (which is a local protection).
“Fair housing is all about preventing discrimination,” Woelke said.
She noted that they spoke to approximately 50 people during Wednesday’s event.
She said they have also received questions about some additional issues like the role of assistance animals versus emotional support animals, and issues of reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications.
“Like, my apartment needs grab bars, is one thing,” Woelke said, or how to navigate getting a handicapped parking spot nearer to their housing unit.
Woelke said that landlords in the city are good about working through such issues.
“Our real goal with (these sessions) is really just to talk to people” and get a feel for what they’re thinking and seeing, said Woelke. “A lot of time people will see something but not know what to do. So we want to make sure they know to call us.”
“We work with the Apartment Association, we work with the realtors, to make sure that they’ve got all the training they need and all the support they need to know what their rights are, what the tenants’ rights are,” said Woelke.
