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Rental Rights


Fair Housing and Rental Rights
did you attend this workshop?  give us your comments here!

A free educational program for property owners, managers, tenants, & other interested citizens

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

10 AM-Noon

Ontario City Hall, 555 Stumbo Road, Ontario, Ohio 44906 

Presenters:

Spencer Wells, Tenant Outreach Director, Coalition on Homelessness & Housing in Ohio (COHHIO)

Thanks to Greg Heindel from WMFD for covering the event.  Thanks to City of Ontario for making their community space available.  Thanks to Patrick Heydinger, Executive Director of Mansfield Metropolitan Housing for sharing information about the Housing Choice Voucher program and Special Thanks to Sharon Rawls and Donnie Mitchell for their support of COHHIO's work in Richland County.


 What happened?
About 30 people (mostly landlords)came to the session which opened with a presentation by Mansfield Metropolitan Housing Authority.  21 signed in.  5 presenters. 

Mansfield Metro presentation highlites
MMHA may deal with fiscal cliff cuts by reducing the payment standard or calling in existing vouchers-board meets on options today.  Planning is hard because MMHA receives short term contracts.

Good Question! (and suggestion)

Is a private landlord (no federal assistance) required to transfer a mobility impaired tenant to a 1st floor unit?  YES.  Follow up:  what if the 1st floor unit usually rents for more money?  The landlord and the tenant can negotiate over what is 'reasonable'.

If I grant a reasonable accommodation or permission to make a reasonable modification, can I charge more for rent?  No. 

Do pet policies apply to support animals?  No.  But in designing a reasonable accommodation, you can ask the tenant to comply with reasonable rules on size, shots and hygiene.

Wells asks the landlords:  what do you look at when you screen a prospective tenant? 
  • previous bankruptcy is a Positive sign!  Applicant has cleared old debt and is now wiser about how they spend.
  • "two back" landlord references are more reliable than references from current landlords.  Follow up:  worried about being sued for providing a bad reference.
  • inspect the current unit.
Who is the FH consultant for Ashland County? Ohio Regional Development Corporation

If I accept one tenant under HCV program, am I required to accept HCV tenants at all my properties?  No.

Pre/Post test results
15 people completed pre and post tests
mean score for pretest was 4 of 6
mean score for posttest was 6 of 6
average improvement in score was 1.81 points
GOOD WORK!


Presented by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio with the support of the Richland County Commissioners.

Funding for this workshop is provided under a grant with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)



Notes & Links

Here's the story!

What do you still need?
rentinfo@cohhio.org

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