Cleveland’s Housing Court is responsible for hearing thousands of cases each year. The judges and magistrates make decisions in eviction cases that involve tenants and landlords. They also handle housing and building code violation cases. Two candidates are running for judge of the court. Early voting starts Oct. 7 and Nov. 4 is Election Day.
W. Moná Scott and Cheryl Wiltshire
Housing Court judges have tried different “carrots” and “sticks” to hold out-of-town property owners/investors responsible for the properties. What are the most important tools a judge has to address this issue? What is lacking?
The most important tools I have to hold all defendants responsible for their property are the Ohio Revised Codes community control guidelines, its local rules, and specialized dockets such as “clean hands” and “corporate capias”. As the judge, I require the individual owner to be present. For LLC, the principal owner/sole proprietor/ or executive member must appear before the Court for all changes in pleas, sentencing, and probation status hearings.
On the criminal docket, I do not allow property managers to appear on behalf of the LLC. The owner of the LLC must speak on behalf of the LLC when entering a plea and state that they understand the court’s orders and expectations while on probation. Having these hearings virtually has caused many out-of-state and out-of country LLCs to appear for all their hearings, including arraignments. Conducting virtual hearings has lowered the number of cases to be placed on the Court’s corporate docket.
When landlords fail to meet the habitable housing requirement by not timely closing out violation notices and permits, code enforcement prosecutors can file a criminal complaint, which places the landlord defendants on my criminal docket. I have created a consistent, streamlined, and effective community control order that requires all landlord defendants to pay all outstanding property taxes, register all their properties with either the vacant or rental registry units, and obtain their lead safety certification, abate all code violations by closing out all opened violation notices and permits, obtain the certificate approving rental occupancy (CARO), maintain the grass, shrubbery and overgrowth of evasive vines, clean up and prevent dumping, and do not sell, gift or transfer any Cleveland properties without the Court’s permission.
The tools that are lacking are more aggressive and competent code enforcement prosecutors who desire to enforce laws created by their law department and hold violators accountable for the criminal complaints they filed.
How would you balance holding landlords who are not respecting housing codes or following laws accountable while also protecting tenants from unsafe conditions or having to move?
The Ohio Revised Codes, along with the Court’s local rules, allow it to impose sanctions that comply with the goals of the ORC’s community control (probation) sanctions. The purpose of community control is to correct bad behavior, prevent recidivism, and punish offenders. The primary goal of the Cleveland Housing Court is to correct code violations and create a continuous supply of safe, habitable, and affordable housing.
A majority of all criminal defendants adhere to the court’s community control orders. LLCs face high fines and up to five years of community control. LLCs cannot, by law, be placed in jail, UNLESS the City’s code enforcement prosecutors charge and file a criminal complaint against the LLC’s principal owner, who is NOT the newly required local agent in charge. Individual landlords and property owners under the ORC can face high fines, 180 days in jail per count, but no more than 18 months, and up to five years of community control. Only individual defendants can be incarcerated.
The Ohio Judicial Codes of Conduct and Ethics require judges and candidates to uphold the integrity, independence, and impartiality of the judiciary. A judicial candidate or judge who states they would never place someone in jail, whether during a campaign or on the bench, violates the principle of impartiality and the obligation to uphold the law by showing a prejudged, categorical stance against a potential judicial action, rather than committing to the fair and unbiased application of legal principles to specific facts. Therefore, I want to emphasize that I adjudicate every case that comes before me with independence and impartiality, in accordance with the judicial codes, without any outside influences, particularly from religious institutions.
In some cases, tenants have ended up with garnished wages or court judgments because they didn’t receive an eviction notice from a landlord. How can the court address this gap in due process and ensure tenants are given a fair chance to respond?
The Cleveland Housing Court sends notices for second cause (damages) hearings via four methods: certified mail, regular mail, bailiff delivery, and a valid email address. Tenants have the right to file a stay of eviction and a motion in objection to the magistrate’s ruling/decision. The Court always reviews these motions and court records to ensure all defendants received notices. In its journal entries, motion responses, and rulings, the Court will state how the service was sent out and not returned as undeliverable. I issued an administrative order to add regular mail to ensure that individuals who don’t pick up their certified mail receive court notices/summons via regular mail, along with an email reminder of upcoming hearings. The Court has, on certain occasions, had summons and notices hand-delivered by its deputy bailiff as an alternative option. Where the tenant has provided proof that they didn’t receive a notice or summons, the prior ruling favorable to the landlord for damages can be vacated, and the case can be reset for a new hearing.
Cleveland Housing Court now requires landlords to provide photographic proof and receipts of missed rent, as well as documentation of all damages done to the property. Requiring photographic proof of property damage has decreased the amount sought by property managers and owners.
Housing is not a fundamental right in this country, though some believe it should be. What’s your view?
Housing, along with access to healthy food, should be a fundamental right, but I am realistic about living in a capitalist society and my obligation to uphold the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions. However, at the very least, housing should be affordable, safe, and habitable. Gov. Mike DeWine signed Amended House Bill 430 into law, which amended the Ohio Revised Code to make rent control ordinances illegal at the local level. Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 5321.19 prohibits any Ohio municipality from creating rent control laws or policies.
ORC 5321.19 was signed in 2021 and went into effect on Sept. 23, 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It ensures that the regulation of rents remains a matter for the state, preventing local rent control ordinances from being adopted or maintained. In 2023 and 2024, Ohio’s rent increased faster than an individual’s wages. Zillow’s SmartAssets ranked 10 U.S. cities where rent is rising the fastest. As of 2025, Cleveland and Toledo ranked #2 and #7 nationally for the fastest rent increases, respectively. Both cities have the only two housing courts in Ohio.
As rent continues to increase and wages remain stagnant, the Ohio legislature’s passage of a law that prevents municipalities from controlling the state’s fast-growing rent ensures a decline in the availability of affordable, safe, and habitable housing.
Tell us about the first home you lived in and loved and why?
We purchased our first home in Ward One, Cleveland’s far Southeast Side, which was known for having the highest homeownership rate in Cleveland. We were the youngest couple on our street when we moved into our new house. Our daughter was one year old and was the only baby on our street. A majority of our neighbors were older, retired and loved seeing a new family with small kids move into the neighborhood. We were welcomed with open arms, goodies, and an invitation to participate in our block and ward clubs. Our home was perfect for a family of four, with a high-performing blue-ribbon elementary school just a few feet away.
Selecting a house is the initial step, but choosing a new house in a neighborhood that watches out for you and is welcoming turns a house into a home. I still live in my original home in Ward 1, where we remain a hardworking and politically active community. FYI, Ward 1 has five active and former judges as residents.
Share a bit about your previous experience in elected office, government or community work.
I don’t have previous experience as an elected official, as I am a current elected official. As a lifelong public servant, my prior government work experience has well-prepared me to serve as a Cleveland Housing Court Judge. I was a former prosecutor for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, which enhanced my knowledge of the criminal and civil rules of procedure, jury and bench trials, motion hearings, and oral arguments before the 8th District Court of Appeals. As a county prosecutor, I worked in several units, including general felony and tax foreclosure. I created and rolled out the Cuyahoga County Treasurer’s Office community engagement initiative, which was deployed in the communities, specifically on Cleveland’s East Side. Finally, as the City’s fair housing administrator, I developed an active community engagement policy to educate Cleveland residents and landlords about Cleveland’s extended fair housing laws and their rights and responsibilities.
I also partnered with Cuyahoga County to streamline the City’s HUD requirements for cities receiving CDBG funding to produce a report called the Analysis of Impediments (AI). This formal review examines the barriers that hinder fair housing choice and access to opportunities within a community. The goal of an AI is to identify these problems and develop a plan for taking meaningful, proactive steps to affirmatively further fair housing and create more inclusive, balanced communities.
Collecting data throughout Cleveland is where I learned that the City has a serious digital divide amongst its wards. This knowledge better shaped my approach during the COVID-19 pandemic to converting and maintaining the Court’s virtual court, which included court and neighborhood Zoom kiosks in Cleveland’s public libraries. My lifelong commitment to public service continues as I reshape the Court’s community and landlord engagement, making it non-partisan and intentional in explaining the laws, navigating the Court, and introducing and connecting everyone to growing community partners and their resources and opportunities for assistance.
Housing Court has historically taken a proactive role to educate tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities. What role should the court take to ensure people live in safe, habitable homes? What boundaries must the court respect?
Housing Court is in a unique position to provide information to landlords, tenants and homeowners about their rights and responsibilities under state and local laws. However, the Court’s primary role is to act on the cases before it; therefore, the Court’s role should be to provide information, not advice, and avoid comment on any pending or impending cases, while fairly and timely adjudicating the civil and criminal cases litigants file.
Housing Court judges have tried different “carrots” and “sticks” to hold out-of-town property owners/investors responsible for the properties. What are the most important tools a judge has to address this issue? What is lacking?
Individuals and/or entities must come to Court if summoned, and if they don’t, then the court should use all of the tools in its tool box to bring them to Court. That means that the Court should be making use of what currently exists: the Corporate Docket, the “Clean Hands” Docket and Warrant Docket where appropriate.
Once a defendant appears before the Court, the Judge should fairly adjudicate and sentence the defendant in accordance with the law.
A good judge applies the law to the facts of each case.
How would you balance holding landlords who are not respecting housing codes or following laws accountable while also protecting tenants from unsafe conditions or having to move?
It depends. These can sometimes be separate legal issues. The fact that a Landlord has been cited with a code violation does not mean that a tenant does not have to pay rent. Sometimes if the property is deplorable, it may not be safe for a tenant to remain in the property; there are civil remedies available for those situations. Through public outreach, including the Housing Clinic staffed by trained Specialists, the Court can provide all parties with information about their rights and responsibilities. The Court can strengthen its social services referrals program so that referrals can be made for landlords/owners (i.e., elderly on fixed incomes who may not be able to afford repairs) with resources in making repairs and tenants for assistance moving or rental assistance, respectively.
In some cases, tenants have ended up with garnished wages or court judgments because they didn’t receive an eviction notice from a landlord. How can the court address this gap in due process and ensure tenants are given a fair chance to respond?
In instances like these, the Court can only refer tenants to Legal Aid and provide information (though not legal advice) through the specialists. The Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure require that anyone who is sued must receive notice before the Court can proceed and be afforded a timeframe to file an answer to the complaint filed against them. Likewise, under the same rules, there are remedies available to parties who receive judgments against them without the required notice. The Court can provide information to litigants about their rights and responsibilities, but the Judge must always remain neutral. Notice would include the hearing date for the eviction action as well as the hearing date for money judgment of the complaint. At this time, the Court only notes the first cause eviction date and the tenant only receives notification when and if they appear.
Housing is not a fundamental right in this country, though some believe it should be. What’s your view?
In my view, every person deserves a safe and decent place to live. However, there are rules in place to protect others, for example, a tenant who causes physical violence against another tenant may lose their housing by endangering the life of another. Similarly, if a tenant fails to pay rent, the landlord may not be able to pay their mortgage note, utilities and property taxes, which can lead to a decline in the property and perhaps even the neighborhood.
Tell us about the first home you lived in and loved and why?
My first and fondest memory is my maternal grandparents’ chattel house on the Island of Barbados. My parents migrated to the U.S., leaving my three brothers and I behind for a period of time. My maternal grandparents, knowing that we missed our parents terribly, showered us with love and affection. I can still remember the smell of my grandmother’s home cooked meals and the anticipation of filling our bellies!
Share a bit about your previous experience in elected office, government or community work.
I was a Judicial Clerk and Staff Attorney for Cleveland Housing Court in the early 2000s. I performed legal research and writing for the Judge and the Magistrates. Then I worked as aa Staff Attorney for Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court for the next two years. I also performed legal research for all five Judges and all Magistrates in Domestic Relations. In 2022, I was a part-time Magistrate with Cleveland Housing Court hearing Eviction cases and drafting Magistrate Decisions.
I am an Individual and business member of the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corp. I volunteer with the CDC, including community clean-ups, and participate in CDC events. I am also a member of the Cleveland Police Second District Community Relations Committee for which I have received Certificates of Appreciation for my Outstanding Involvement and Dedication to the Citizens of the Second District in 2023 and 2024.
