Michael Foley
State Representative Mike Foley (D-Cleveland) of the 14th District has represented constituents in Brook Park, Parma Heights, and Cleveland Wards 17, 18 and 19 since May 2006.
Rep. Foley earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Dayton and his law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He has used that education to defend the rights of Ohioans, especially in the area of housing.
As a community organizer for the St. Clair-Superior Coalition in the mid-1980’s, Rep. Foley was responsible for block club organizing in the neighborhood and managing its safety. His work with homeowners and tenants in fighting absentee landlords resulted in developing a unified neighborhood housing preservation strategy. Efforts under his leadership also led the courts to sentence at least one landlord to live in his own rundown apartments.
Rep. Foley’s passion for housing issues kept defining his career. He served as field representative for Cleveland’s Community Relations Board. He then moved to the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court, where he worked as court administrator, a personal bailiff and a judicial clerk. Upon joining the Ohio Bar in 1996, Rep. Foley returned to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law’s Housing Law Clinic as an instructor.
The Cleveland Tenants Organization noticed Rep. Foley’s impressive resume in the housing arena and hired him in 1997. He worked there for nine years, becoming the organization’s executive director in 1999. He preserved and strengthened one of the most respected housing rights organization in the country. Under his watch, the CTO worked with thousands of families to save them from being displaced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Rep. Foley’s work helped bring in more than $160 million in affordable housing construction and renovation, performed by union labor. He also organized the largest rent strike in Ohio history at Columbia Park Manufactured Home Park, when out-of-state landlords bought the park and raised senior citizen rents by 25 percent.
As an attorney, Rep. Foley successfully represented victims of the first predatory lending cases in Cuyahoga County in the late 1990’s. He continues to help victims of security deposit scams and families hurt by lead-based paint.
Rep. Foley currently sits on the Insurance Committee, Ways and Means, Public Utilities and the Financial Institution, Housing and Urban Development Committees. Rep. Foley has worked on issues including foreclosures, alternative energy, the environment, cable deregulation, retiree benefits, consumer rights and tax code reform.
Rep. Foley earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Dayton and his law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He has used that education to defend the rights of Ohioans, especially in the area of housing.
As a community organizer for the St. Clair-Superior Coalition in the mid-1980’s, Rep. Foley was responsible for block club organizing in the neighborhood and managing its safety. His work with homeowners and tenants in fighting absentee landlords resulted in developing a unified neighborhood housing preservation strategy. Efforts under his leadership also led the courts to sentence at least one landlord to live in his own rundown apartments.
Rep. Foley’s passion for housing issues kept defining his career. He served as field representative for Cleveland’s Community Relations Board. He then moved to the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court, where he worked as court administrator, a personal bailiff and a judicial clerk. Upon joining the Ohio Bar in 1996, Rep. Foley returned to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law’s Housing Law Clinic as an instructor.
The Cleveland Tenants Organization noticed Rep. Foley’s impressive resume in the housing arena and hired him in 1997. He worked there for nine years, becoming the organization’s executive director in 1999. He preserved and strengthened one of the most respected housing rights organization in the country. Under his watch, the CTO worked with thousands of families to save them from being displaced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Rep. Foley’s work helped bring in more than $160 million in affordable housing construction and renovation, performed by union labor. He also organized the largest rent strike in Ohio history at Columbia Park Manufactured Home Park, when out-of-state landlords bought the park and raised senior citizen rents by 25 percent.
As an attorney, Rep. Foley successfully represented victims of the first predatory lending cases in Cuyahoga County in the late 1990’s. He continues to help victims of security deposit scams and families hurt by lead-based paint.
Rep. Foley currently sits on the Insurance Committee, Ways and Means, Public Utilities and the Financial Institution, Housing and Urban Development Committees. Rep. Foley has worked on issues including foreclosures, alternative energy, the environment, cable deregulation, retiree benefits, consumer rights and tax code reform.
