Locally and nationally, we are seeing a dramatic rise in housing discrimination complaints. Recently, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) released its 2023 Fair Housing Trends Report, which annually examines trends in housing discrimination and provides policy recommendations. The findings of NFHA’s report, along with The Fair Housing Center’s 2023 State of Fair Housing in Northeast Ohio report, confirm that housing discrimination continues to be a persistent and pervasive issue affecting communities throughout the U.S. According to the National Fair Housing Alliance, this rise in complaints is “a direct result of the failure of national, state, and local government prioritization of fair housing and lending principles.”
2022 saw the largest number of fair housing complaints ever filed.
Across the country, a total of 33,007 complaints of housing discrimination were filed in 2022 alone. This is the largest number of complaints ever filed since NFHA began collecting this annual data more than 25 years ago. In the same year, the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research filed 117 fair housing complaints with HUD from our six-county region. Of those complaints, approximately 84% alleged discrimination occurring within Cuyahoga County. Out of all regions of the country, HUD Region 9 — which includes California, Nevada, and Arizona — processed the largest number of complaints last year. HUD Region 5 — which includes Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana — processed the second highest number of fair housing complaints in 2022.
Despite this record-breaking number of complaints and despite our best efforts, we know that this data does not capture every instance of housing discrimination. It is the unfortunate reality that many instances of housing discrimination go unreported. In some instances, discrimination may occur in a more subtle manner that is not easy to identify or document. For instance, in a situation where a housing provider lies about the availability of housing units in an attempt to reject Black applicants, it may be virtually impossible for an applicant to know whether or not their rights have been violated. With that said, national and local reporting confirm that vigorous enforcement of fair housing law is needed now, more than ever.
Locally and nationally, there has been an increase in fair housing complaints.
Over the last two years, fair housing complaints have risen by 14.96% nationally. Locally, that rate is even higher. Between 2020 and 2022, The Fair Housing Center recorded an increase of 17% in fair housing complaint filings. Data shows that there was an uptick in a number of different types of housing discrimination in 2022, as well. Nationally, we have seen a rise in every type of discrimination listed in the “other” category. This includes discrimination based on source of income, marital status, age, and domestic violence. It should be noted that there were significant increases in complaints of discrimination based on source of income and domestic violence in 2022.
In Northeast Ohio, we saw an uptick in complaints based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and retaliation. If we look back a few more years, we can get an even better idea of the way complaints are trending. For instance, if we look at the increase in racial discrimination between 2018 and 2022, the number of complaints received by The Fair Housing Center increased by a remarkable 291%. In those four years, the total number of complaint intakes received by The Fair Housing Center increased by 261%.
Breaking down housing discrimination complaints by category
As complaints trend upwards across the board, breaking down the bases of discrimination reported can help us to draw comparisons between local and national data. Nationally, the percentages of complaints filed in 2022 are as follows: Religion – 1.07%; Color – 1.85%; Familial Status – 6.5%; Sex – 7.54%; Race – 17.63%; Disability – 53.26%; National Origin – 4.95%. At the local level, the percentages of complaints filed in Northeast Ohio are as follows: Religion – 0.85%; Color – 2.56%; Familial Status – 8.55%; Sex – 10.26%; Race – 21.37%; Disability – 41.03%; National Origin – 1.71%. The graphs below illustrate the breakdown of discrimination complaints at both national and local levels. While these graphs only capture data for the seven federally protected classes, additional complaints were filed under the “other” category at both local and national levels. Complaints in this category may allege discrimination on bases such as source of income, age or student status, criminal background, or retaliation.
Recommendations for Advancing Fair Housing
Both the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research and the National Fair Housing Alliance have proposed a number of recommendations for moving toward a more equitable future. In its 2023 report, The Fair Housing Center provided the following concrete steps that government officials can take to affirmatively further fair housing:
- Structure local and regional approaches to creating equitable access to housing around addressing the lasting impacts of redlining and predatory lending on Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color.
- Conform local ordinances to Ohio law and eliminate exemptions for small housing providers.
- Strengthen Fair Housing Laws.
- Repeal local criminal activity nuisance ordinances as such ordinances that penalize renters; people of color; victims of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual assault; and people with disabilities.
- Expand federal, state, and local protections for victims of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault from housing discrimination.
- Remove all restrictive language in group home and residential facility zoning ordinances.
- Ensure responsible investment activity through following the policy recommendations outlined in Vacant and Abandoned Property Action Council’s 2022 report, “The Impact of Real Estate Investor Activity on Cuyahoga County, Ohio Housing Market 2004-2020.”
- Devote increased resources to continue to fund comprehensive local fair housing programs, including enforcement, client intake and assistance, testing, research, education, and advocacy.
- Enforce fair housing laws more vigorously to “affirmatively further fair housing.”
In addition, The Fair Housing Center recommends increasing overall renter rights and increasing the minimum wage, in order to create inclusive communities and address the gap between renters’ wages and the cost of rental housing. At the federal level, the National Fair Housing Alliance provided the following recommendations, which detail steps that can be taken to address housing discrimination and enable the advancement of housing justice:
- Congress Must Prioritize Funding for Local Fair Housing Enforcement
- Prohibit Source of Income (SOI) Discrimination
- Embed Fair Housing Principles in Recent Legislative Victories of the Biden-Harris Administration
- Utilize Equity-Based Programs to Advance Fair Housing
- HUD Must Strengthen Fair Housing Enforcement and Complaint Administration
- HUD Must Vigorously Enforce the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Mandate
- The Appraisal Subcommittee Must Institute Reforms to Create Fair and Accurate Home Valuations to Root Out Appraisal Bias
While specific solutions exist to address specific issues, all recommendations support the notion that stronger enforcement, continued support, and expanded protections under fair housing law are needed in order to truly advance fair housing. In its report, NFHA also noted that this year’s complaint data “critically underscores the need for federal, state, and local governments to prioritize increasing funds to support the agencies that process and investigate fair housing complaints and work to dismantle barriers and systems that impede people’s ability to access fair housing and credit opportunities and live in well-resourced, resilient, thriving communities.” It is imperative that this data and these recommendations move us to action, in an effort to build a more equitable world, where fair housing is not only a right, but a reality.