BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — April is Fair Housing Month, and the city of Bowling Green is reaching out to make sure citizens know their rights.
Matt Snow is the community development director for the city of Bowling Green. He says this month, the fair housing center is reaching out to the community, educating people on their housing rights, so that no matter who you are, you have access to a home.
"The fair housing program we administer is education and outreach specifically," said Snow. "Here in BG, we have a lot of questions regarding disability. Specifically, reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications," said Snow.
For instance, if you need something like emotional support animals or wheelchair ramps, members from the housing center can come out and help you fill out the paperwork.
"It'll be something we always focus on. Here during fair housing month being April, we're doing lot of advertising. We're doing press releases, our communications department will also being doing different promotions on social media throughout the month," said Snow.
Snow says the fair housing center works year-round to educate locals, not just during Fair Housing Month.
"Throughout the year, we are also continuously having different talks with community partners. Being realtors, landlords, BGSU students, and more," said Snow.
Housing rights are broken up into different classes. Snow says that federally, you only have seven classes of rights protected under law. In Bowling Green however, citizens have more than three times that number.
"Here in BG we have a nondiscrimination ordinance that protects 24 sets of classes," said Snow.
But what does Snow recommend you do if you feel like you are a victim of housing discrimination?
"So if there is any formal complaint regarding housing, if somebody feels like they're being discriminated against, basically you would go through the civil rights commission. Typically, there's usually an investigation process and then if there is an actual form of dissemination, civil rights would then file a lawsuit against whoever it is," said Snow.
Snow says that while they are not able to give specific legal advice to people, they still try to help educate them as much as possible and answer any questions. He says this can be done in person, over the phone, or online.
In 2020, the city of Bowling Green updated their fair housing document. Set to expire this year, Snow says that they are currently making changes.
"We are actively in the process of doing the analysis of the impediments to update that current document. We've had several public hearings and community events," said Snow.
He says with fair housing, the most important thing is knowing your rights and he encourages people throughout April to do their research.
Click here for more information on the Bowling Green Fair Housing Center or call 419-354-6221.
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