Committee votes to forward ordinance updating fair-housing code and removing local Fair Housing Board

The Building and Lands Committee voted to send Ordinance 2025-115 to the full council for consideration; the ordinance would amend Chapter 628 of the North Ridgeville General Offenses Code to align local language with current federal and Ohio fair-housing law and eliminate the city’s Fair Housing Board. Kim Lieber, director of planning, told the committee the existing ordinance dated to 1989 and “really not much had changed,” and said the update aligns the city’s list of protected classes with federal law and with Ohio’s additions of ancestry and military status. Lieber said the draft would remove the appointed Fair Housing Board from the city code and instead encourage partnerships with nonprofit organizations and Lorain County’s community development department to take referrals and provide enforcement and education services. The law director told the committee he reviewed the proposed legislation and that it “does comply with current state and federal law.” Committee members asked whether the city would still address property maintenance or habitability complaints; Lieber and other administration staff said those issues would still be handled through the building department and that the city is pursuing a rental-registration program to better track rental properties and property-maintenance complaints. The committee recorded a motion to send the ordinance to the next council meeting for consideration and moved it forward. The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the committee minutes; the chair announced the motion passed and that the ordinance will appear on the council agenda for Sept. 2. Next steps: the ordinance will appear on the council agenda and, if adopted, the city would pursue a memorandum of understanding with Lorain County to accept fair-housing referrals and provide enforcement and education on a referral basis.