Fair Housing Center trainer briefs Lorain board on law, complaint process and reasonable accommodations

Tanisha Seaborne, director of education and outreach at the Fair Housing Center, told the Lorain Fair Housing Review Board on May 15 that the board should expect to receive and handle complaints under both federal and Ohio fair housing law and that the board's local ordinance includes additional protected classes not always covered at the federal level.

Seaborne said the Fair Housing Center conducts about 60 trainings per year and offers direct advocacy, testing and research for municipalities. "We do direct advocacy and then we do testing, which we are contracted to do, with the city of Lorain," she said.

The presentation covered which properties and actions qualify under fair housing law, the protected classes at federal and state levels, and how the board should screen complaints. Seaborne told the board most residential property in Ohio is covered and noted Ohio does not recognize two federal owner-occupant and small single-family exemptions. "So just about all residential property in Ohio is covered under fair housing law," she said.

Seaborne reviewed the seven…