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Ed. Note: Section 8
voucher holders are not only threatened by the possibility of future
funding cuts, (see “A Choice to be Made”, this issue) they also must deal
with the present reality of source of income discrimination. Bias against
people who receive rental assistance limits the very housing choices that
the Housing Choice Voucher Program is designed to expand. Deanna Eason,
who works in both the Mobility and the Fair Housing units of HOME,
explains why protection against this form of discrimination should be
mandated at the state level.
I met
Lynn at a recent Greater Buffalo Community Housing Center Small Group
Session. After waiting several years for Section 8 (a federal rental
subsidy), she was very excited to finally be in the program and was
grateful for HOME’s assistance in helping her find adequate housing.
During these sessions, I explain to program participants the services that
the GBCHC provides and offer referrals for security deposits, and moving
assistance. I also explain that not all landlords accept Section 8.
Many landlords don’t fully understand the program. Some erroneously
believe that if you require rental assistance you will not keep the
apartment up, and then there are the landlords who want to do as little
work in the apartment as possible and do not want their property inspected
annually. Even though I spend at least 15 minutes on these topics, there
is always one client who believes that I am slightly exaggerating and that
every landlord who has an apartment for rent will rent it to her. This
was Lynn.
When I met with Lynn
during our follow-up session, she was different from the excited young
woman of two weeks earlier. She had been earnestly searching for a
three-bedroom apartment in Amherst or Cheektowaga. Lynn was searching for
a new and different neighborhood with good schools, less poverty, and less
violence. Every time she asked a landlord whether they accepted Section
8, she was told no. Even when she tried to explain the program and that
the rent was guaranteed every month, the door was shut or the phone was
hung up.
I reminded Lynn that
there were ordinances passed in West Seneca and Hamburg that made lawful
source of income a protected class. Lynn replied that it should be a
protected class everywhere.
Is Lynn right? Many lawmakers would say yes.Although New York
State does not have an anti-discrimination statute that includes Section
8, there are other states and cities that do. Among them are the states
of New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut, the District of Columbia
and Chicago, Il.
If other states and
cities have adopted Section 8 anti-discrimination laws and statutes, why
not New York? In theory, Section 8 rental subsidies are provided to help
low-income individuals and families afford decent housing. This is
difficult to put into practice if eligible program participants are then
denied the decent housing the subsidy helps them to afford. Some
landlords use a prospective tenant’s receipt of Section 8 as an excuse not
to rent to people of color or families with children.
Isn’t it time everyone
played on an even playing field?
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