Council expected to approve new language to protect renters from retaliation

The meeting of Cincinnati City Council’s Equitable Growth & Housing Committee convened, as it usually does, in Cincinnati City Council chambers at City Hall, 801 Plum St., downtown. Council Member Mark Jeffreys called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m. The committee adjourned at 1:11 p.m.

Committee Members

Council Member Mark Jeffreys, chair

President Pro Tem Victoria Parks, vice chairperson

Council Member Mark Cramerding

Council Member Scotty Johnson

Council Member Seth Walsh

Council Member Evan Nolan

Council Member Meeka Owens

Council Member Anna Albi

Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney (absent).

PUBLIC COMMENT

Michael Riser, Legal Aid attorney (senior supervising attorney in its housing department), spoke in support of Owens’ ordinance (Item 2) to amend the city code to stop retaliation against renters and tenant organizations.

“This ordinance is so important because so many residents we speak to fear retaliation as a deterrent as to exercise their legal right as tenants,” he said.

AGENDA

ITEM 1.  A report regarding Housing Application Program Interface (API) feasibility.

City Manager Sheryl Long is advising council to partner with CityWiseSoftware LLC to create and develop a housing API dashboard. The initial partnership would be for three years with the option to renew for up to three additional one-year terms. Her office submitted the report in response to a council committee request in March. Her goal was to assess the feasibility of an API to scan the web, find apartment listings and update itself.

“Access to real-time affordable housing is essential for ensuring that residents can locate safe, suitable homes quickly, particularly those earning 80% AMI or below,” states a report the city manager’s office filed for the committee meeting. 

Right now, available housing data is scattered across different sources –  such as landlord lists, online platforms, and nonprofit databases –  and is rarely updated in a way that reflects immediate vacancies. It also infrequently updates other data that makes searching for safe and quality housing accessible, according to the report. 

“This creates unnecessary barriers for residents, especially those displaced suddenly who must make dozens of calls to locate a viable option,” Long wrote in the report.

An API-based dashboard could collect listings from multiple online sources, filter them for affordability, and integrate them into the city’s Affordable Housing Dashboard, Long wrote in the report. A partnership with CityWise would “offer residents and housing service providers a single, reliable location for up to-date listings, improve the efficiency of housing searches, and allow city leaders to monitor trends and direct resources strategically,” the report states.

CityWise is a web-based service provider that works with local governments to improve data-driven decision-making and public-facing information systems. CityWise has expertise in API development, predictive analytics, and housing market analysis, along with a track record of integrating community engagement into technical projects. Its involvement would help ensure the tool is accurate, easy to use, and tailored to the needs of Cincinnati residents, the city manager wrote in the report.

CityWise brings to this project a proprietary, dynamic, searchable database technology specifically designed for affordable housing listings. Its platform uniquely lowers barriers for small property owners by charging listing fees only to owners with 20 or more units, while still supporting large-scale landlords. This approach increases the diversity of listings, ensuring that smaller, often more affordable properties are represented. The database would include properties owned by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority,  as well as other housing that accept Housing Choice Vouchers.

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Apartments.county.milwaukee.gov, Green Bay, Wisconsin Apartments.greenbaywi.gov, and Muskegon, Michigan Apartments.muskegon-mi.gov are among at least eight cities that have partnered with CityWise.

Cincinnati would receive 20% of net listing fees annually, Long said, creating a small but sustainable revenue stream to offset administrative costs. Her report also states all development and integration work will be completed without direct city expenditure for platform setup, significantly reducing financial risk compared to building a comparable system from scratch.

Long, in the report, said the partnership aligns with the city’s goals for a modern, equity-focused housing search tool. It provides the technical foundation for integrating an API that can display real-time listings filtered for affordability (80% AMI and below) within the city’s Affordable Housing Dashboard. Leveraging CityWise’s proven infrastructure and local marketing plan will accelerate implementation, ensure reliability, and deliver immediate public benefit, according to the city manager’s report.

Jeffreys said the administration has been monitoring CityWise for a year. He mentioned, in support of the manager’s recommendation, that the CityWise site drops the listing fee for owners with 20 or fewer units.

The city would host the platform within the sub domain of the city’s website.This way, the city could add things like code violations to the website, he said, to be completely transparent for anyone who wants a rental property.

Jeffreys said he is “hugely supportive” of the proposed partnership. “It’s a win for the city and a win for residents and smaller landlords.

The committee filed the report for approval by the full council.

ITEM 2.  An ordinance modifying “landlord-tenant relations” of the Cincinnati Municipal Code

The ordinance would amend the city municipal code to protect tenants and tenant organizations against retaliation for reporting hazardous or substandard living conditions and advocating regarding their tenancy.

Council Member Meeka Owens, who sponsored the ordinance, said this work began surrounding the tenant’s bill of rights, and what could be done in parallel with the Ohio Revised Code. The city has been working with United Way, the Help Center and Legal Aid, she said in thanking those organizations.

 She also thanked the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition and Cincinnati Tenants Union for working with her office on the ordinance.

Cincinnati’s renter population is 60%: “This ordinance acts to protect those practices (tenant organizers and unions), for those on the frontlines every day,” Owens said.

An example of retaliation would be a landlord locking doors to a rec room because tenants are meeting there to advocate for better conditions.

 A vote for the ordinance “is a vote in favor of empowering residents, improving relationships between housing providers and tenants, and building a stronger housing ecosystem for Cincinnati,” Owens said.

The committee sent the ordinance to the full council for passage.       

Meeting adjourned at 1:11 p.m.

These notes can be found on www.Documenters.org.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcincinnati.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.

Find more Documenters’ notes on Cincinnati City Council here.