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2020 Fall Newsletter
Committed to fair housing for all
Welcome to the Team!
The Fair Housing Center recently welcomed three new staff members to our team. Read their bios below, and visit our website to learn more about our team.
Huiyu Lin | Research Associate

Huiyu Lin assists the senior research associate to design, implement, and conduct research for The Fair Housing Center. She also assists in conducting local fair housing studies and produces Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice reports for various jurisdictions. Huiyu designs, assigns, and analyzes the findings of fair housing testing of the local rental, sales, insurance, and lending markets, among others.

Huiyu is an ABD Ph.D. candidate at Kent State University in Geography, focusing on spatial statistics, GIS, and environmental criminology. She graduated from Binghamton University, NY, with a Master of Arts in Geography. Her master’s thesis studies the relationship between population, land use, and land cover change in shrinking cities.
Bridget Croniger | Enforcement Intern

As Enforcement Intern, Bridget assists the Investigations Coordinators with their daily tasks. She performs client intake of potential victims of housing discrimination, manages cases, and completes referrals to community resources.

Bridget is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science with minors in Biology and Chemistry and a Master of Science in Healthcare Management as an integrated masters student at Case Western Reserve University. Her campus and community involvement includes volunteering with and serving as Co-President of CWRU’s Labre Homeless Outreach Ministry, a weekly initiative that aims to form long-lasting relationships with individuals experiencing homelessness in Cleveland. She also serves on the student executive council of the Center for Civic Engagement and Learning where she promotes an engaged campus community by leading volunteer projects and planning educational events surrounding philanthropic giving, political involvement, social responsibility, and advocacy.

Kaylah Paul | Outreach Intern

As Outreach Intern, Kaylah assists The Fair Housing Center's Education & Outreach department with various fair housing education and outreach activities. Kaylah previously served as Research Intern with The Fair Housing Center as well.

Kaylah graduated from Baldwin Wallace University in 2019 with a B.S. in Public Health. She is currently in the second year of obtaining her MPH from her alma mater. Kaylah has always been interested in community and environmental health (which includes housing) and loves to serve her community whenever given the opportunity. She is also completing her first year of AmeriCorps VISTA.
City of Bedford Repeals Discriminatory Criminal Activity Nuisance Ordinance
The City of Bedford agreed to repeal its Criminal Activity Nuisance Ordinance (CANO) and pay a settlement amount of $350,000 as a result of litigation brought by the ACLU, the ACLU of Ohio and The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland on behalf of Beverley Somai, a Bedford resident, and the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research.

Under Bedford’s CANO, when two or more perceived violations of any law, excluding traffic violations, occurred near their home or involved a resident of the property within a one-year period, a warning letter would be issued to the property owner. Subsequent violations would result in imposition of penalties. Bedford implemented the ordinance to deter repeat criminal behavior, and enforced the ordinance based upon alleged violations of ordinances and calls for police or emergency assistance. The parties agreed the CANO could result in the violation of Constitutional and statutory rights and must be repealed.

Under the agreement, the city of Bedford will repeal its CANO, publish a notice of the repeal, and work with the Fair Housing Center and other community agencies on fair housing trainings. Plaintiffs Beverley Somai and the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research brought the case in early 2019, alleging violations of their rights under the First Amendment, Due Process, and Equal Protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution and violations of the state and federal Fair Housing Acts.

Since 2015, The Fair Housing Center has been encouraging local communities to repeal their CANOs due to the discriminatory effects they have on people protected by fair housing laws. “Criminal Nuisances Ordinances interfere with residents’ fair housing rights and their housing stability. The Fair Housing Center celebrates Bedford’s commitment to repealing its ordinance and encourages other communities to do the same,” said Carrie Pleasants, Executive Director of the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research.
New & Improved Fair Housing Resource Available for Download
The Fair Housing Center exists to protect and expand fair housing rights, eliminate housing discrimination, and promote integrated communities. In order to best serve our neighbors and community, it is a high priority of ours to provide easily accessible educational resources and information on fair housing rights. That’s why our team has created a new and improved version of the book Fair Housing: Know Your Rights, so that it may be used as a resource to educate and empower our clients and community members to better understand and exercise their fair housing rights.

Topics covered in this book include:

  • What is Fair Housing?
  • Prohibited Actions in Rental and Sale of Housing
  • Prohibited Actions in Mortgage Lending and Insurance
  • Protected Classes
  • Reasonable Accommodations and Reasonable Modifications
  • Emerging Issues in Fair Housing
  • Filing a Fair Housing Complaint
  • Who to Contact with Fair Housing Issues

This resource takes a deeper look into what fair housing means, who’s protected, and how to get the help you need. Whether you’re renting, looking to move, or interested in becoming a home buyer, this book offers valuable information to help you access housing that is safe, accessible, and fair.
Being Evicted During a Pandemic — Know Your Rights
Are you facing an eviction during the pandemic? Know your rights under the federal eviction moratorium and what resources are available to you.

If you are currently out of work and struggling to pay your rent, you are not alone. In the past six months, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, rack up expensive medical bills, and face financial insecurity, all of which are making it more and more difficult for renters to afford their housing. According to a Census Bureau survey conducted at the end of August, more than 8 million Americans hadn’t paid last month’s rent, and about 77% reported loss of employment income. After eviction bans expired at the end of July across the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a sweeping eviction ban at the beginning of September to help renters remain housed during the pandemic.
Fair Housing in the News
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.