Havel v. City of Kent Board of Zoning Appeals

The city of Kent, Ohio bans more than two unrelated people from living together in areas zoned for "single family housing."

Landlord Reed Havel challenged the constitutionality of this law in court, after being denied a rental license for a home that he was going to rent to four unrelated people. The case has made its way to the Ohio Supreme Court, where IJ has submitted an amicus brief, urging the court to strike down the Kent law.

On September 8, IJ filed an amicus brief in the Ohio Supreme Court case Havel v. City of Kent Board of Zoning Appeals. The brief asks the Ohio Supreme Court to reverse the intermediate appellate court’s decision, which reversed the trial court and upheld the City’s ban on more than two unrelated people living together in a single-family home. The brief urges reversal because the lower court failed to follow Ohio’s precedent—including an IJ victory in Norwood v. City of Horney—which requires courts to meaningfully scrutinize government intrusions on Ohioans’ fundamental private property rights. The brief also makes novel arguments about Ohio’s Baby Ninth Amendment, which protects Ohioans’ unenumerated rights, including the private property rights to lease property and to establish one’s household.