Cincinnati Council on Wednesday approved new protections for renters, expanding prohibitions on retaliatory behavior by landlords.
The ordinance by Council member Meeka Owens seeks to guarantee tenants have the right to make complaints about bad conditions in their homes to their landlords or the city, organize tenants' unions, distribute information about tenant rights, and other activities.
Under the ordinance, landlords can't raise rent, withhold services, refuse to accept rent, or threaten eviction in response to complaints about conditions or efforts to form a union.
The city of Cincinnati has filed lawsuits against several large landlords over the last few years after tenants complained of severe issues in their apartment buildings and rental houses.
Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Executive Director Josh Spring says addressing those conditions often starts with tenants advocating for themselves. He says this ordinance could make that work easier.
"It expands the various definitions of what is tenant organizing, so that when people are organizing themselves, it is more difficult for landlords to retaliate," he said.
The Ohio Revised Code already prohibits general retaliation by landlords against tenants. But Owens says she wanted to make sure the city's laws are specific enough to protect a broad array of tenant advocacy.
"These are the things we have seen people do in the city of Cincinnati," Owens says, mentioning instances when landlords tried to block tenants from holding meetings in apartment community rooms. "Renters get together, people who live together are advocating for things that are important to them, and all of a sudden, the community door is locked. So these are real situations we've had to call out specifically."
The ordinance is one of several efforts meant to expand tenants' rights and decrease housing insecurity in the city. Those include a tenant's guide the city published in March and an Access to Counsel program that launched last September.
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