CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council could soon be taking steps to ban housing voucher discrimination.

What You Need To Know

  • Councilman Kerry McCormack tells Cleveland.com he plans to introduce legislation that would amend the city’s Fair Housing Law

  • The goal is for it to not allow landlords to reject renters if they use a housing subsidy to pay rent

  • The Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research says this is a big step in helping people find homes 

Kris Keniray, the associate director of the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research, said the potential ban is a big step in combatting systemic racism.

“Folks tend to be concentrated in a small number of deeply segregated neighborhoods in the city. And we found that when we looked elsewhere in the city that housing providers were denying folks with vouchers 95% of the time. And that really doesn’t allow for mobility for folks to pick and choose the neighborhood they want to live in, a home that meets their family’s needs, a community that meets their needs.

The Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research says nearly 90% of voucher recipients in Cuyahoga County are black.