Proposals that would ban rental application fees, mandate training for landlords, reform single-family zoning or redirect taxes to pay for increased enforcement of housing laws are among a slate of policies Freedom Bloc may propose Akron voters weigh in on this fall.
The community advocacy group presented 14 housing-related policies last week at a meeting with politicians, advocates and interested residents. It wanted to gauge interest in the slate of proposals that are designed to help make Akron’s housing more affordable and easier for residents to keep.
“We’re all about housing being a human right,” said Imokhai Okolo, an organizer with Freedom Bloc who helped lead the session. “People deserve housing whether they can afford it or not, whether they can maintain it or not.”
The session, attended by about 50 people last Thursday at the main branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library, served as an introduction to some of the policy proposals. Participants were asked to score each proposal on the impact they thought it would have on their community as well as on whether they understood the policy, would support it or believed others would support it.
Later, small groups discussed the proposals, what they thought might work and what might be appealing to voters.
“I’m overtaxed as it is as a homeowner,” said Jan Davis, the Ward 4 City Council member, in response to a proposal that would create a new income tax to support rental assistance, affordable housing development and other housing needs. “We’ve got to find another way.”
“My mind can always be changed,” Davis added, “but it has to make sense.”
What are some of the housing proposals under consideration?
A proposal to pay security deposits in installments instead of all at once “feels more like a Band-Aid,” said Gabe Cook, and the proposal doesn’t say anything about how high a security deposit could be.
A proposal to redirect tax funds meant for police, roads and fire to pay for housing enforcement might be a good idea, group members said, but was likely to receive pushback from the community.
A proposal to limit landlords’ ability to require tenants to earn three times the rent (or another multiple of rent) could be impactful for people who budget in such a way they can afford to pay rent but can’t get a landlord to rent to them, said Aveline Clark with the Akron AIDS Collaborative.
“It’s kind of an arbitrary requirement that’s really limiting a lot of people,” Clark said.
Especially since landlords might not know the side hustles that people rely on to earn additional income, said Michael Farmer, the pastor at South Arlington United Methodist Church and Family of Faith United Methodist Church.
“That hits the level of change,” Ward 1 Council Member Fran Wilson said of the rent-to-income ratio proposal.
Other proposals would:
- Invalidate rental registration required by the city when there is a serious health or safety violation
- Require landlords to process rental applications in the order they’re received
- Ensure landlords provide receipts for rent or train landlords on fair housing requirements
- Prevent housing discrimination based on criminal history
- Make it mandatory that landlords accept rental assistance
“Every city has these problems,” Cook said, “but Akron has it bad.”
Narrowing down Akron’s housing priorities
The discussions led to “a lot of great feedback,” Okolo said, as Freedom Bloc determines what proposals to move forward with and whether to try to get one or seven on the ballot. Now, he said, the group has more of a sense of what people are thinking and what to prioritize.
Once more work has been done internally, the organization will start collecting signatures to try to get some of the proposals on the ballot this fall.
Karmaya Kelly, an Akron school board member who attended the session, said she had firsthand experience advocating for her father’s housing needs. Reform is “definitely needed,” she said, and she’s a proponent of a proposal that would increase rental registration fees, including increasing them for out-of-state landlords.
“The question is, ‘Is housing a human right?’” Kelly said. “It is, but it doesn’t feel like it.”
Marquetta Boddie, too, said she thought the city had an issue with out-of-state investors and a lack of affordable housing. From the long list, there were proposals she thought could be easily implemented and those she thought were not as crucial. But on the whole, Boddie said, she appreciated the chance to weigh in on some ideas.
“If you don’t have a place to sleep, you can’t think about anything else,” she said. “Look at the human aspect.”