The Fair Housing Center
Creating Inclusive Communities of Opportunities
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Enforcement and Outreach
Our Enforcement and Outreach Department focuses on three primary activities: investigating individual
housing discrimination complaints, conducting fair housing trainings, and expanding our outreach and
marketing efforts. Enforcement of the Fair Housing Act relies upon individuals bringing forth
complaints, our staff takes the utmost care to identify cases and help clients navigate this process. Our fair housing trainings help us educate people who work in the real estate industry and enable us to further fair housing by way of partnership rather than conflict. We undertake our outreach and marketing efforts in order to educate individuals about their rights and duties under the Fair Housing Act, foster stronger partnerships with community partners, and ensure people know where to turn when they feel they have been a victim of housing discrimination. Through these efforts, we achieve one of the most important societal goals: building inclusive communities of opportunity for all.
Systemic Investigations
Through systemic investigations, staff work to identify broader discriminatory trends in the lending and rental markets. Our goal is to combat systemic issues through structural change and root out discriminatory practices within individual entities and even across entire industries. Our Enforcement and Systemic Investigators take a collaborative approach. Investigators may identify patterns of discrimination as they assist individual complainants. They then refer to these investigative opportunities for systemic investigation. In other instances, our systemic investigations may identify enforcement opportunities that our agency can pursue on behalf of aggrieved individuals. Our agency’s comprehensive approach to investigations allows us to root out discriminatory practices large and small.
Landlord-Tenant Mediation Services
This program improves the relationship between landlords and tenants, thus preventing evictions by serving
as a resource to tenants, landlords, property management companies, or anyone else involved in the rental
housing transaction. Landlords and tenants are educated on their rights and responsibilities under Ohio
landlord-tenant laws. They have access to trained mediators to help resolve disputes early, reduce eviction
filings, and help individuals maintain stable housing opportunities.
Where we work
Awards
Torch Award 2014
BBB
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of distribution outlets for products
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Enforcement and Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric is used to our Community Partnerships
Number of products distributed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Enforcement and Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric measures the number of brochures distributed.
Number of training workshops
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Enforcement and Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric measures the number of people trained in our community on fair housing laws and policies.
Number of people trained
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This metric measures the number of investigations conducted
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Eliminating housing discrimination and expanding equal access to housing opportunities.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We believe that through education and outreach we can help housing professionals better understand and comply with fair housing laws, thus curtailing future acts of discrimination. We also conduct outreach to the general public to increase awareness of their rights under The Fair Housing Act.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The Fair Housing Center boasts a talented and gifted staff whose achievements have been recognized at the local, state, and national levels. The agency was one of four fair housing organizations in the United States to be featured in the 2009 Fiscal Year Annual Report on Fair Housing published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Our team is active in the community, attending events and fostering partnerships with local organizations and government entities. We distribute educational materials, publish fair housing advertisements, and conduct fair housing training, including a certified CE course for realtors.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
As a result of our education and outreach efforts, The Fair Housing Center has received and investigated more than 12,000 complaints of housing discrimination and recovered more than $33 million in damages for victims and neighborhood reinvestment. In fulfilling its mission, The Fair Housing Center has set many precedents and expanded housing opportunities for millions across the country.
Nevertheless, barriers continue to exist including redlining and neighborhood disinvestment, which prevent many members of our underserved communities from accessing housing opportunities.
Today, disability has surpassed race as the largest basis for fair housing complaints, indicating an increased need for accessible housing and education to housing providers in making appropriate accommodations for persons with disabilities. This need continues to be more relevant as the large Baby Boomer generation ages and experiences special needs related to their housing and aging in place.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
The Fair Housing Center
Board of directorsas of 05/05/2023
Patricia Wise
Spengler Nathanson Law
Term: 2022 - 2024
Alan Sattler
Alan Bannister
Denise Alvarado
Keith Jordan
Cheryl `Slack
Earnest Walker
Mary-Thom Williams
Patty Wise
Juanita Green
Tom Luettke
Tony Totty
Charmaine Brown
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/30/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.