By Alexandria Leatherberry
The Truth Reporter
Toledo Fair Housing Center (TFHC) celebrated 50 years of service to the Toledo community on October 4 at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion by dedicating their work to eliminate housing discrimination through advocacy, education and investigation.
Since its founding in 1975, Toledo’s Fair Housing Center has grown from a grassroots effort to guard against neighbor retaliation and redlining into a major force shaping housing policy in northwest Ohio. As the Center enters its 50th year, its history is marked by landmark cases, legislative wins and policy changes that have expanded access to fair housing setting precedents far beyond Toledo’s borders.
During the celebration the center recognized the individuals that have been momentous in fulfilling their mission. The awardees were Lisa Rica, president and CEO of National Fair Housing Alliance(NFHA; Shanna Smith, founding executive director of TFHC and co-founder NFHA; Stephan Dane; attorney at Dane Law LLC; Christina Rodriguez, conditions and reinvestment attorney of TFHC; Dennis Degnan, Real Estate broker with Key Realty.
The Toledo Fair Housing Center was founded by neighborhood activists, the Women of the Old West End, the League of Women Voters and other concerned citizens. Shanna Smith detailed how the decision was made to form a board not just represented by the industry professionals but also by “people of the neighborhood.”
She shared her experience on embarking dangerous sexual harassment case that became the precedent of the center’s investigative practices to uncover systemic issues in housing policies. “As a counselor you can’t just stop at the cases, you have to protect the people” stated Smith.
The Center had a groundbreaking role in Harrison v. Heinzroth, which became one of the nation’s first to successfully challenge redlining under the Fair Housing Act. John Harrison sued Otto G. Heinzeroth Mortgage Co. after being told he would need a 40 to 50 percent down payment to buy a home in Toledo’s Old West End because the neighborhood was transitioning racially from white to black.
The court found that the company’s refusal to offer conventional mortgage terms based on the area’s racial composition violated federal fair housing laws. The decision established that discrimination in lending can occur not only because of who the borrower is, but also because of where they seek to live.
Over its 50 years, the Fair Housing Center has investigated more than 12,000 complaints of housing discrimination and recovered over $33 million for victims. It has also shaped public policy, landlord education and the investigative strategies to ensure the federal and local government enforcement of fair housing laws.
As it enters this milestone year, the Center is focused on tackling persistent barriers: housing quality, accessibility, criminal history screening and ensuring that neighborhoods are reinvested in equitably. The Toledo Fair Housing Center details services, how to support, and to get involved on their site toledofhc.org.