Category Archives: Latest News

Zimmerman Case Shows Fair Housing is Still the Issue

The civil rights struggle today is just as important as it was 58 years ago, when a 14-year-old African-American boy, Emmett Till, was brutally murdered for whistling at a white woman in the south. Till was from Chicago and bragged to his cousins, whom he was visiting in Mississippi, about the white girlfriend he had back home.  He asked a 21-year-old white female store clerk out on a date and whistled at her on a dare. Shortly thereafter, he was abducted from his uncle’s house, beaten, shot in the head and found in the Tallahatchie River with a cotton-gin fan tied around his neck. The all-white jury found the murderers, including the store clerk’s husband, not guilty.  One of the accused murderers was quoted as saying, “Well, what else could we do?…I like n—–s—in their place…They ain’t gonna go to school with my kids…and I just made up my mind.  ‘Chicago boy,’ I said, ‘I’m tired of ‘em sending your kind down here to stir up trouble…I’m going to make an example of you—just so everybody can know how me and my folks stand.’”

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Thank You Rock the Block 5K Volunteers & Participants!

You Rocked the Block! Thank you to everyone who joined in the 2^nd Annual Rock the Block at Edgewater Park on Saturday. It was a beautiful day to celebrate inclusive communities and to support the Housing Research & Advocacy Center’s work to end housing discrimination. The Housing Center wishes to thank everyone who contributed to and participated in this event.

With your help the Housing Center will be able to advocate for more of the 30,000 people who experience housing discrimination in Northeast Ohio every year and to expand our work to prevent discrimination through research and education. Thank you to each and every one of you! We cannot achieve housing choice for all without your support and participation.

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Housing Center assists HUD in national study, represents Cleveland metro

The Housing Research & Advocacy Center is pleased to announce our role in a national research study on housing discrimination, conducted by the Urban Institute commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In a report titled, “Housing Discrimination Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012,” the Urban Institute found that subtle discrimination […]

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Housing Center celebrates 30th Anniversary at City Club of Cleveland

The Housing Center hosted its 30^th Anniversary Celebration & Fair Housing Art Exhibition at The City Club of Cleveland. The event honored Reverend Hilton Smith, Senior Vice President and Director of National Community Affairs for Turner Construction Company, and recently elected President of the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP.  Smith was among the first in the construction industry to proactively promote opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses.

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Report finds continued discrimination in housing market

The Housing Center recently released two research reports with findings that the region continues to see historic highs in housing discrimination complaints filed. The State of Fair Housing in Northeast Ohio: April 2013 found a 32% increase in the number of complaints filed in the last 5 years (2008-2012) compared with the previous time period (2003-2007). The Housing Center estimates that there are at least 33,690 instances of housing discrimination annually in the region against African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the rental and sales markets, meaning that the vast majority of cases are never reported to a government agency.

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Fair Housing by the Numbers – Segregation

Can you find your zip code on the maps below? How segregated is your community? Over the last 20 years, the Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria Metropolitan Statistical Area remained one of the most segregated in the country. According to the Population Studies Center/University of Michigan, as of 2010 this area is the 5th most segregated in the nation. Only Milwaukee-Waukesha, New York, Chicago and Detroit surpass us. There have been some improvements in integration by national origin, but not enough. In 2010, our area was the 20th most segregated by national origin in the country.

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Housing Center Partners with Cities on Fair Housing Projects

The Housing Center is pleased to announce that we were awarded two grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the cities of North Olmsted and Shaker Heights to improve access to housing for residents.

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Housing Center Publishes New Resource for People with Mental Health Disabilities

The Housing Research & Advocacy Center published a new guide to assist people with mental disabilities.  “Obtaining and Maintaining Housing: Fair Housing for People with Mental Health Disabilities” presents fair housing information and the additional protections for people with disabilities in an easy-to-use graphical format. This resource was designed and written by Mandy Mehlman, Fair Housing Community Educator, to be used by individuals, their caregivers, and family members to help them understand and exercise their fair housing rights. It includes a helpful directory of fair housing organizations and governmental offices.

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Housing Center Releases Annual State of Fair Housing in Northeast Ohio Report for 2012

Although complaints of housing discrimination in Northeast Ohio decreased in 2011 from 2010, the number remained significantly higher than the average number of complaints filed in the last 22 years and represented the fourth highest yearly total since 1990, according to the new report issued by the Housing Research & Advocacy Center. In 2011, the top three basis discrimination complaints in Northeast Ohio were issued on the basis of famililal status (68), handicap/diability (40), and sex/gender (7). To view the entire report and other Housing Center publications, please check out our Research Reports (Publications/Research-Reports.html) page.

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Youth Art Exhibition

The winning submissions from the Housing Center’s Youth Art Contest hosted in March 2012 with grant support from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture are now available for viewing.

Thank you to all of the students from throughout Cuyahoga County who participated in the Housing Center’s Youth Art Contest hosted with grant support from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture! Students entering the contest were asked to respond to the question: “What makes your community great and how can you contribute to it by being a good neighbor?” The original artwork and essays created by the students were exhibited at the Seventh Annual Fair Housing Celebration & Art Exhibition on April 12, 2012 at Cleveland State University presented in honor of National Fair Housing Month.

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Julia Kuo to Exhibit at 7th Annual Fair Housing Celebration

Each year, the Housing Center hosts a Fair Housing Celebration during April, Fair Housing Month. This year, the event features local artist and Cleveland blogger, Julia Kuo, creator of the 100 Days in Cleveland blog (http://juliaincleveland.tumblr.com/), which celebrates beautiful and unique locations in the greater Cleveland area. Artwork from her blog, which is featured in her new book co-authored with Justin Glanville, New to Cleveland: A Guide to (re)Discovering the City, will be available for purchase at the event. The event this year will also feature a youth art competition, which celebrates diverse neighborhoods. Julia will serve as one of the judges. Ms. Kuo will produce a video, to be available on YouTube and the Housing Center’s website, to encourage students to submit artwork depicting what it means to be a good neighbor in their community. Monetary prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners of the art contest. The 7th Annual Fair Housing Celebration also honors local advocates in fair housing, commemorates the passage of the Fair Housing Act and engages the community in housing discrimination awareness. A ticket to the Fair Housing Celebration includes a sampling of a variety of delicious wines, light hors d’oeuvres and the opportunity to win one of our exciting raffle baskets. The 7th Annual Fair Housing Celebration will be held in a new location this year: the Ballroom at Cleveland State University’s dramatic new Student Center on April 12th from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30. The 7th Annual Fair Housing Celebration is sponsored by Thacker Martinsek (http://thackermartinsek.com/), Third Federal Bank (https://www.thirdfederal.com/Home.aspx), Kondik Advertising (http://www.kondikad.com/ocart/), Dollar Bank (http://www.dollarbank.com/) and Fifth Third Bank (https://www.53.com/site/index.html?%3f). The Youth Art Competition receives public support with local tax dollars from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (http://cuyahogaartsandculture.org/), to preserve and enrich our region’s artistic and cultural heritage. Cuyahoga Arts & Culture generously awarded the Housing Center a project-specific grant to support our youth art competition, including the production of the qualifying video by Julia Kuo. Please join us in April to celebrate Fair Housing Month in Northeast Ohio!

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