Eight Ohio Towns Ban Source of Income Discrimination in Housing

The group doesn’t include Cleveland, where landlords can explicitly exclude housing voucher recipients from rental properties.

1 minute read

August 8, 2024, 5:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Close-up of facade of red brick high-rise apartment building in Columbus, Ohio.

Michael Carni / Adobe Stock

Eight cities in Northeast Ohio have passed laws barring ‘income-based discrimination’ in housing, which landlords often use to reject renters that receive housing vouchers or other subsidies.

Five of the eight municipalities are located in Cuyahoga County, but don’t include the city of Cleveland. As Dakotah Kennedy explains in an article for Signal Cleveland, “Cleveland doesn’t protect people against source of income discrimination. If you’ve looked at apartment listings, you may have seen ads that say ‘no vouchers’ or ‘no Section 8.’” Close to 15,000 households in Chuyahoga County rely on Section 8 vouchers for rental assistance.

None of the new regulations specifically mention Section 8 or vouchers. “South Euclid includes ‘receipt of public assistance’ in the city’s definition of source of income discrimination.”

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 in Signal Cleveland

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