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Analysis of Impediments 2003
City of Bowling Green, Ohio

Report prepared by the Toledo Fair Housing Center

INTRODUCTION
CURRENT STATE OF FAIR HOUSING & ASSESSMENT OF FAIR HOUSING PROGRAMS
DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS
POPULATION CHANGE
POVERTY RATES
AGING AND HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS
HOUSING FOR THE ELDERLY
FAMILY HOUSEHOLD ISSUES
ECONOMIC CLIMATE & SERVICES AND AMENITIES
INCOME DATA
HOUSING PROFILE
HOME OWNERSHIP RATES
REAL ESTATE HOUSING PRACTICES
MORTGAGE LENDING ISSUES
SUBSIDIZED AND ASSISTED HOUSING
DISABILITY ISSUES
NATIONAL ORIGIN ISSUES
ZONING ISSUES
RECOMMENDATIONS



INTRODUCTION

Since 1968, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been under Congressional mandate to affirmatively further fair housing and to ensure that entitlement and other jurisdictions who receive federal funding, and in particular, Community Development Block Grant funding, comply with the same obligation to affirmatively further fair housing.

            The state of Ohio, in an effort to more thoroughly define what would qualify as “affirmatively furthering fair housing,” laid out the standards it expected from non-entitlement communities who received federal or state dollars.  Completing an analysis of the impediments to fair housing is one of the criterions.

            An Analysis of Impediments is a comprehensive review of a community’s laws, regulations, policies, housing market, and housing practices to determine whether there exists any barriers to fair and equal access to housing.  It requires an analysis of how laws, market conditions and housing practices affect the location, availability, and accessibility of housing.  It is an assessment of private and public conditions affecting fair housing choice.

            “Impediments’ are defined as any action, omission, or decision taken that would inhibit a person’s access to housing because of race, color, religion, sex (gender), disability, familial status, or national origin (ancestry).

            The Impediments Analysis is not just an examination tool.  It is a resource for communities because it includes recommendations that a jurisdiction can use to begin to address and cure the impediments identified in the document.

            The Impediments Analysis also serves as a jumping board from which a community can develop its Fair Housing Plan.  The Fair Housing Plan includes a comprehensive strategy to effectively address and eliminate barriers in the marketplace that impede access to housing.  It also includes benchmarks that the community can use to measure its progress and determine how well it has accomplished its fair housing goals.

HUD realized that in order to develop effective and appropriate strategies for securing fair housing throughout America, that the impetus for developing those strategies had to start at the community level.  In order to develop effective and appropriate strategies, one must first identify those strategies.  It is those who live in the communities who can best identify and gauge what barriers exist in their locales.  If  fair housing is to become a reality, it is also those in the community who will have to effect it. As HUD so aptly put it, “The goal of devolution of responsibility in the area of fair housing means that communities will have the authority and the responsibility to decide the nature and extent of impediments to fair housing and decide what they believe can and should be done to address those impediments.”[1] 

To gauge housing practices and barriers to free housing choice, the Center solicited responses from the community.  The following organizations were interviewed and the information from those interviews compiled for this report. 

Ø      Henry Housing Authority

Ø      Rural Opportunities

Ø      Board of Realtors®

Ø      Amherst Village

Ø      Behavioral Connections

Ø      City of Bowling Green

Ø      Bowling Green Manor

Ø      Bowling Green State University, Administration Department

Ø      Bowling Green State University, Institutional Research Department

Ø      Fairview Manor

Ø      Cedar Park

Ø      Ohio Housing Finance Agency

Ø      Ohio Department of Development

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CURRENT STATE OF FAIR HOUSING & ASSESSMENT OF FAIR HOUSING PROGRAMS

With the passage of the Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (the Fair Housing Act), Congress mandated the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to administer all housing and urban development programs in a manner that would affirmatively further fair housing.  Accordingly, every program managed by HUD includes provisions that require recipients to comply with the Fair Housing Act and adopt fair housing goals.  HUD has required recipients of HUD dollars to certify that they affirmatively promote fair housing.  Further, HUD requires recipients to analyze impediments to fair housing that exist in their jurisdictions and to develop measures that sufficiently address those barriers.

Recognizing that barriers to open and free housing continue to exist, the past four administrations beginning with President Reagan have engaged measures to enhance and encourage compliance with fair housing laws. President Reagan signed into law the Fair Housing Amendments Act that broadened the authority of HUD to promote and execute the statute. 

The Act also increased the responsibility of the Justice Department and strengthened its enforcement role.  Assistant Secretaries Judith Brachman and Jack Stokvis issued a memorandum to all Community Development Block Grant Entitlement Communities outlining their duty to affirmatively further fair housing.  This memorandum, the first of its kind, strongly encouraged municipalities to conduct impediments analyses, develop mechanisms to address them, and create partnerships with fair housing organizations. 

During President George Bush’s administration, Assistant Secretaries Gordon Mansfield and Anna Kondratas reissued this memorandum citing the recent passage of the National Affordable Housing Act and its requirement that all participating jurisdictions certify their intention to affirmatively further fair housing.  Moreover, Secretary Kemp and President Bush made fair housing one of six priorities at HUD.

Most recently, President G.W. Bush and HUD Secretary Mel Martinez reiterated HUD’s fair housing priorities and related them to the Administration’s goal of increasing the homeownership rate.  The President and Secretary Martinez pointed out that in order for this important goal to be reached, the homeownership rate among African-Americans, Latinos and Native-Americans, in particular, would have to increase dramatically.

On January 17, 1994, President Clinton signed Executive Order 12892 entitled, “Leadership and Coordination of Fair Housing in Federal Programs: Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.”  The order was signed to enhance the promotion of fair housing in all federal programs as well as activities relating to housing and urban development.  The Order reiterates the Secretary of Housing & Urban Development’s role in furthering fair housing and underscores the responsibility of the head of each executive agency to ensure  “its programs and activities relating to housing and urban development are administered in a manner to affirmatively further the goal of fair housing …”  The Order also established the President’s Fair Housing Council consisting of all Cabinet members, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.  The President’s Executive Order expands the authority of the Secretary of HUD to take necessary measures to provide leadership and coordinate efforts in all deferral programs to make fair housing a reality.

In an attempt to better manage the various programs it administers and carry out the President’s Order, HUD merged the following application and planning documents into one document – the Consolidated Plan.   The implementing regulations for the Consolidated Plan expressly state that each jurisdiction must certify that it will affirmatively further fair housing.  This mandate is not new.  However, what is new is the expressed charge for each jurisdiction to conduct an analysis of fair housing impediments and to develop strategies that address identified impediments.  According to the implementing regulations for the Consolidated Plan, the first analysis was to have been completed by February, 1996.

Likewise, the state of Ohio has adopted aggressive fair housing goals for those who receive federal or state dollars.  The Ohio Department of Development created definitive fair housing standards in 1993.  HUD’s mandate that communities “affirmatively further fair housing” sometimes left the state wondering exactly what HUD meant by this declaration.  Thus, the state decided to adopt specific standards that would clearly define the mandate for small cities, who were not entitlements, to meet their fair housing obligations.

The state’s standard is clear.  In summary, each community must have:

·        General Information Contact so that residents can call someone regarding fair housing issues;

·        Fair Housing complaint Intake and Referral System;

·        Education and Outreach on Fair Housing Rights and Definition of Housing Discrimination;

·        Impediments Analysis

      The Training and Technical Assistance Section of the Ohio Department of Development monitors small cities to ensure their fair housing compliance.  According to the Civil Rights Specialist with the Training and Technical Assistance Section, Bowling Green is in compliance with its fair housing requirements. 

            The City of Bowling Green, as a result of its previous Impediments Analysis, has implemented a Fair Housing Plan to address previously identified barriers in the housing market.  Previously identified barriers, goals and actions are included below.

FAIR HOUSING PLAN
Impediment
Goal and Recommendation
Action

Analysis of Impediments needs to be updated.

Update AI

Issue contract with Fair Housing Center to update AI.

 

Lack of community understanding of Fair Housing Laws

Contract with the Fair Housing Center to distribute information, conduct seminars, schedule ads, and investigate and resolve complaints

Fair Housing Center distributes materials, conducted fair housing seminars and ads, and investigated and resolved complaints.  FHC completes annual report on each activity.  Materials in English and Spanish.

 

 

The City will maintain dialogue with advocacy groups representing low income, disabled and families with special needs.  Distribute FH and Landlord Tenant booklets.

Conduct Homebuyer Counseling for applicants to the City’s housing programs.

 

Lack of publicity regarding Fair Housing Laws

Undertake activities which publicize Fair Housing policies

Fair Housing Center conducts seminars at BGSU, and real estate groups.  FHC prepares and places PSAs and advertising re: FH guidelines.

City monitors advertising related to rental housing.

 

Negative impact of lack of affordable housing on consumer choice.

Maintain programs which increase the supply of affordable housing.

City maintains grant programs for low income housing programs, Section 8, landlord participation in Rental Rehab programs, support of transitional housing units.

 

Lack of participation from protected classes in programs

Target advertising for affordable housing to promote participation by these populations.

City markets programs through social services, human resources departments, flyers and brochures.  City also maintains brochures and advertising in Spanish.


The above identified efforts have certainly had a positive impact on the city.  For example, several agencies report the city’s willing compliance with fair housing laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  In fact, Behavioral Connections, a local non-profit agency, reports that it has never had an issue with getting the city to support the establishment of dwellings for persons with disabilities.  In other communities, this has been a problem.

            Complaint trends at the Fair Housing Center reveal relatively few complaints filed by consumers.    During the 2000-2001 fiscal year,   the Center received 3 complaints of housing discrimination.  All three dealt with the rental market.  Two alleged discrimination based on race.  One alleged discrimination based on disability.  These complaints were resolved to the satisfaction of the parties.  During the 2001-2002 fiscal year, the Center received one complaint of housing discrimination.  This complaint alleged disability discrimination in the rental context and is still pending.  During the 2002-2003 fiscal year, the Center received two complaints of discrimination.  Both were based on familial status in the rental market.  These complaints are pending resolution.

            Because of the small number of complaints filed,  it is difficult to identify many trends or patterns.  Complaints were filed based on three basis:  race, familial status and disability.  However, all of the complaints involved the rental market.  This suggests that there needs to be a continued focus on fair housing training and education for rental housing professionals.

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DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

            Bowling Green Ohio is a relatively small city with a population 29,636[2] in 2000. This notwithstanding it dominates most of Wood County. Bowling Green is located almost exactly in the center of the county and contains the county seat, sheriff’s office, hospital, courthouse, and other county offices. Interstate I-75, which runs north and south, cuts the county in half and goes straight through Bowling Green. The maps at the end of this section show Bowling Green’s location in the state and in the county.

            Wood County is a rural county with many acres of farm land and many farmers. The County is full of small villages and towns. Although it has a modest population, Bowling Green is by far the largest city in Wood County. Perrysburg in the northern part of the county is the second largest city with a population of 16,945 in 2000. Perrysburg, because of its proximity to Lucas County, is more often associated with Toledo than with Bowling Green. In fact all of Wood County is part of the Toledo Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). While Bowling Green is not a suburb of Toledo, it is considered as a part of Toledo’s outer-ring. Bowling Green is about 20 miles from downtown Toledo.

Bowling Green State University is a major part of the City of Bowling Green. The campus consumes much of the east side of the city with over one hundred buildings and a large amount of off-campus housing. Bowling Green easily fits into the category of a college town. The university is the largest employer in the city. The students who study at the university are counted in the U.S. census as residents of Bowling Green, because they spend most of the year there. In 2001 there were 18,900[3] students enrolled in the fall semester. Because of Bowling Green State University an unusually high number of African-Americans and Asians live in Bowling Green.   Although the University also boasts a number of Latino students, information gleaned from local sources and University data reveal that many of Bowling Green’s Latino residents are not affiliated with the University.

There are 23 civil divisions or municipalities in Wood County. They are Bloom, Bowling Green, Center, Fostoria, Freedom, Grand Rapids, Henry, Jackson, Lake, Liberty, Middleton, Milton, Montgomery, Northwood, Perry, Perrysburg, Plain, Portage, Rossford, Troy, Washington, Webster, and Weston.  (See Civil Division map at the end of this section.

Given Bowling Green’s central location in Wood County and the easy access to major transportation routes such as I-75, and State routes 25 and 6; Bowling Green is the perfect choice for the county seat. In fact Bowling Green is not only the county seat, but is also the home of all the county office’s including County Auditor and County Sheriff.

Bowling Green is a growing city, but it is growing slowly. The population has increased by 4,000 for the decades from 1980 through 2000, from 25,728 to 29,692. This represents a 13% increase over 20 years.   The chart and graph below depict this growth trend.

  As the charts depict, Wood County is growing along with Bowling Green. In 1980 the county population was 107,372.  By 2000 the population had climbed to 121,065.  The state’s population has increased as well from 10,797,630 in 1980 to 11,353,140 in 2000.  One reason why Wood County has experienced this population growth is related to the population decline Lucas County and the city of Toledo are experiencing. People in the Toledo MSA are moving away from the city into the periphery.  They are leaving the city center and moving into the suburbs and outer-ring areas like Bowling Green.

With this kind of trend in Northwest Ohio, Wood County and Bowling Green are the benefactors of Lucas County and Toledo’s loss. With the added population in Bowling Green taxes, revenues, and income for the city of Bowling Green increases.   

            People within Wood County are moving to Bowling Green. Many of the small rural communities such as Portage, Luckey and Wayne do not have such amenities as  gas stations, grocery stores or banks.  Residents of these places must come to Bowling Green to or other areas to conduct their shopping or take care of other business. Every year families move from these communities to Bowling Green to be closer to stores, schools,  jobs, or to take advantage of other services and amenities that Bowling Green can provide.

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RACIAL CHARACTERISTICS

Bowling Green is not very  racially diverse as compared to the rest of the Country.  It is however more diverse than Wood County as a whole. In 2000 Bowling Green’s percentage of Caucasians was 3% lower than that of Wood County, while the percentage of African-Americans was 1.5% higher than in Wood County. Latino and Asian populations also had higher percentages in Bowling Green than in Wood County in 2000. The charts at the end of this section show the comparison in populations for Bowling Green and Wood County. One can clearly see that Bowling Green is more diverse than the county.

Bowling Green’s diversity is somewhat credited to Bowling Green State University. In 2000 61% of Bowling Green’s population was B.G.S.U. students, thus the student population influences the city’s population a great deal. The University attracts students from all over Ohio and other states. There are also many international students. In 2000, there were over 100 students from China alone.  The University boasts students from over 100 different nations including India, Bosnia, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Malaysia, and Romania.  Three percent of the student population are international students.  The countries traditionally representing the  largest number of international students are China, Canada, France, India, Japan, and Russia.  Because B.G.S.U. has so many international students, these students affect the diversity of population in the city.  Were it not for the presence of the diverse student body, Bowling Green’s population would more closely reflect that of  Wood county.   The City’s diversity is also impacted by the University professors who live in the City.  The diversity among University employees is certainly reflected in the City’s population. The charts and graphs below illustrate the impact of B.G.S.U. student population on the City and the impact of the student population on the City’s diversity.

 

Percent of Bowling Green Population that are BGSU Students

Year

Student Population

Total Population

Percentage

              1980           

17,718

25,728

69%

1990

18,140

28,176

64%

2000

18,096

29,636

61%

 

Bowling Green State University Campus Population Change

Year

Student Population

1951

3442

1955

3817

1960

6400

1965

9901

1970

15335

1975

16422

1980

17718

1981

17125

1982

16380

1983

16897

1984

16762

1985

17222

1986

17339

1987

17402

1988

17964

1989

18142

1990

18140

1991

18050

1992

17584

1993

17324

1994

17006

1995

16976

1996

16791

1997

18083

1998

17751

1999

18064

2000

18096

2001

18739

2002

18773

2003

18534

 

Text Box: Bowling Green State University’s student population has been fairly stable over the past few decades. The student population increased dramatically between 1965 and 1970 when main campus enrollment hit 15,335. Since 1970, the University’s enrollment has hovered between 17,000 and 18,000. The majority of the student population is undergraduate students. A relatively small percentage, 16% of the student population are graduate students. Of the 18,534 students on the main campus, 11, 697 live off-campus. Roughly 6,835 students live on campus in University Housing. The number of students living off-campus has increased slightly over the past several years. In 1999, 11,173 students lived off-campus. In 2000 11,212 students were living off-campus. In 2001 and 2002 11,767 and 11,798 students lived off-campus respectively. Thus, since 1999, approximately 500 additional students live in off-campus housing.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

  The above chart and graph depict some of the relationship between the University’s  diversity and the city’s diversity.  There is a very close relationship between the University’s African-American population and the city’s African-American population.  Using the latest census data and University records for the year 2000 there were 837 African-Americans in the city of Bowling Green.  Of those 837, approximately 789 were students at the University.

  University records also help explain the city’s Native American population.  According to the 2000 census, there were 62 Native Americans in the city.  University records reveal that there were 40 Native American students on campus in 2000. 

University records do not clearly depict a relationship between student and city population for Hispanics and Asians however.  According to University records, a fairly large portion of students, 1,032 in 2000, did not report their ethnicity[4].  BGSU reports that in 2000, there were 409 Hispanic and 150 Asian students.  However, census data reveals that during that time, there were 1,031 Hispanic and 543 Asian persons living in the city.  If one assumes that a  portion of the students who did not reveal their ethnicity were Hispanic and Asian, this would explain some of the variance between the counts.  However, it does not explain all of the variance. 

While the city’s African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American population are not all students at the University, clearly, a large percentage are.  Bowling Green owes a great deal of its diversity to the University. This also helps to explain why the city has greater racial and ethnic diversity than the county. 

            The percentages of each ethnic group have remained rather stable over the past 20 years. Caucasians or whites represented the majority of the population in 1980 at 93.9%. By 2000 Caucasians were still the majority.  The Caucasian population increased  from 24,159 in 1980 to 27,219 in 2000.  However, the percentage of Caucasians as compared to the overall population dropped slightly from 93.9% in 1980 to 91.8% in 2000.  The African-American population has decreased slightly and its percentage of the population has declined as well. In 1980, 900 or 3.5% of the residents of Bowling Green were African-Americans. In 2000, 837 or  2.8% of Bowling Green’s residents were African-American. 

On the other hand, the Latino and Asian populations have grown significantly in proportion to their population sizes.  The Latino population has grown from 463 in 1980 to 1,031 in 2000.  This represents a growth of 123% in the Latino population from 1980 to 2000.  As can be expected with the amount of growth in the population, the Latino percentage of overall population has grown as well.   In 1980 1.8% of Bowling Green’s population was Latino. In 2000 Latinos represented 3.5% of the population, passing the number of African-Americans to become the largest minority group in the city. The Asian population has grown from 257 in 1980 to 533 in 2000.  The percentage of Asian population grew from 1.0% to 1.8%  between 1980 and 2000. The Native-Americans in Bowling Green represent a very small portion of the population. Their numbers did double however from 1980 to 2000, from 28 total to 62, or 0.1% to 0.2%. 

            The following charts and graphs depict the Bowling Green population by ethnicity between 1980 and 2000.

           

 

Wood County Population Change Percentages

Year

Caucasian

African-American

Latino

Asian

Native-American

Total Population

1980

96.9%

1.2%

2.2%

0.5%

0.1%

100%

1990

96.5%

1.0%

2.5%

0.9%

0.2%

100%

2000

94.8%

1.3%

3.3%

1.0%

0.2%

100%