The Somerville Fair Housing Commission presented its fiscal year 2023 annual report to the City Council Committee on Housing and Community Development on March 4, 2025, describing complaint patterns, outreach work and ongoing discussion about local enforcement.

The report, prepared in 2023 by former Fair Housing Specialist Hanalei Steinhardt and presented to the committee by the current Fair Housing Specialist, said the commission logged 13 fair-housing reports in FY2023 and that most complaints alleged discrimination based on race, color or disability. The report said the city expanded its fair housing ordinance to add relationship status and structure and highlighted language-access efforts and collaboration with the Somerville Office of Immigrant Affairs to help non-English speakers file complaints.

The commission told the committee it had examined options for stronger local enforcement in light of a backlog at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD). Staff and commissioners discussed the idea of becoming a “substantially equivalent” enforcement agency to handle local complaints, but said a home rule petition would be required to give the city that authority. City staff said that, given MCAD’s existing enforcement role and other priorities, submitting a home rule petition was not pursued as a near-term priority.

Committee members asked about the fate of the 13 reports. Staff said referrals are routed as appropriate: five were submitted to MCAD, five were referred to the Office of Housing Stability, one to legal aid, four to Suffolk University’s testing program and five remained unresolved because the complainant did not follow up. Staff explained some complaints may be counted in multiple referral categories when they are sent to more than one agency.

Councilors and commissioners pressed staff about repeat offenders, data-sharing with MCAD and whether fair-housing information could be distributed with the city’s housing-stability notices to tenants. Deputy Director of Housing Lisa Davidson said the commission can look for repeat addresses in complaint filings and update outreach materials; staff agreed to explore adding fair-housing information to tenant notifications.

Committee members also discussed Suffolk University’s housing-discrimination testing program and the benefits of expanding proactive testing. Staff said the commission has partnered with Suffolk on testing in the past and will inquire whether Suffolk has capacity for a larger, ongoing testing program.

The presentation emphasized ongoing outreach: two public events in April 2023 (a discussion of The Color of Law and a screening of Segregated by Design), translated materials, and a bimonthly (now monthly) First-Time Homebuyer course that includes fair-housing information.

The committee did not take a formal vote on enforcement authority. Staff said they will continue to track complaints, improve language access, report FY2024 findings when available and follow up on whether MCAD can share complaint-status data.

The committee moved on to other agenda items after the presentation.