The mission of the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research is to protect and expand fair housing rights, eliminate housing discrimination, and promote integrated communities. Known as the Housing Research & Advocacy Center from 2003-2018, The Fair Housing Center was originally established in 1983 as the Metropolitan Strategy Group. The Fair Housing Center was founded as a “brown bag” luncheon group of local fair housing/civil rights advocates who shared a goal of expanding housing opportunities for residents of Northeast Ohio regardless of their race, religion, gender, ethnicity, national origin, familial status, or disability.The Housing Research & Advocacy Center has significantly grown since its inception in 1983. While The Fair Housing Center continues to advocate for programs that promote fair housing, the scope of the agency has changed from a grass-roots coalition of community groups, to a focused fair housing agency. The Fair Housing Center’s general mission remains the same: To ensure, through research, educational programs, public policy and enforcement activities, that all residents are guaranteed equal access to housing.