Lawmakers: Anti-discrimination housing ordinances threaten landlords’ rights

Iowa cities and counties would no longer be able to block discrimination against renters who are on public assistance under a bill advanced by a Senate subcommittee Monday. 

Des Moines, Iowa City and Marion County have all passed ordinances that would be repealed under the legislation. 

Senate Study Bill 3178 was backed by Greater Iowa Apartment Association, representing landlords, and Eastlake Partnership of Iowa City. Lobbyists registered in opposition represented Iowa Housing Partnership, the cities of Des Moines and Iowa City, and the Metropolitan Coalition. 

Subcommittee chairman Sen. Jeff Edler, R-State Center, said the bill would block city ordinances that may cause more problems than they fix by limiting the rights of property owners and landlords. 

Representatives of Des Moines and Iowa City housing agencies said the local ordinances are there to prevent discrimination disguised as opposition to someone’s source of income. 

Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, who opposed the bill, agreed. Quirmbach said veterans and others need housing and rely on public programs in some cases.

“And to allow landlords to discriminate against these folks on the basis of their income source is taking us in the wrong direction,” said Quirmbach, who noted he has financially supported some housing organizations.

Quirmbach said some landlords are using the income angle to discriminate because it is already against the law to turn away renters on the basis of race or other characteristics. Those other characteristics are often what the landlord is objecting to, really, Quirmbach said. 

In an interview before the meeting, Des Moines City Councilman Josh Mandelbaum said it would take longer for low-income renters to find a place to live if the bill passes. A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development study found that housing vouchers made it easier to find housing quickly. Still, more than a third, 36%, of the renters needed a month or two to find a suitable place to live. 

Under a typical federal housing voucher program, tenants typically pay up to 30% of their income for rent and a government voucher covers the rest.

Des Moines changed its ordinance last June after decades of what appeared to be discrimination based on perceptions of families that have Section 8 certificates, a key federal aid program, Mandelbaum said. 

“One of the challenges is there are people on the wait list (for a voucher), and they get the voucher then they can’t find an apartment is willing to take the housing voucher,” Mandelbaum said.

“It’s fear based on stereotypes,” Mandelbaum said of landlords’ reasons for spurning the renters. “It’s not based on reality. One of the things we know is that folks with Section 8 vouchers provide stability and they are very good tenants. The landlords don’t want someone there because of race or ethnicity, but (banning them for that) is illegal, so they will say it’s because of Section 8.”

When Des Moines expanded its housing discrimination ordinance in June 2019 to include legal income sources, the focus was on federal Section 8 vouchers, “but the issue is more broad than that,” Mandelbaum said. 

The Des Moines ordinance also covers veterans’ benefits, Social Security, disability payments, child support, alimony and “other legal sources of income,” Mandelbaum said. 

As of last year, 13 states and Washington, D.C. banned discrimination based on “legal source of income,” he added.

He also noted this would be the third time in recent years state lawmakers have limited local elected officials’ authority. The Legislature earlier blocked local ordinances setting a local minimum wage, and local bans on plastic shopping bags.

Michael Triplett, who lobbies for the Greater Iowa Apartment Association, said some association members accept Section 8, and some have chosen not to. 

“When a local ordinance requires property managers to accept a Section 8 housing voucher as a legal source of income, the program is no longer voluntary,” Triplett said in an interview. “As a result, some property managers could find themselves required to participate in the Section 8 program without their desire or consent or after an internal assessment of the potential costs and benefits of participation.”

The legislation would block local ordinances that are unneeded, Triplett added. 

“The bill removes the power of cities and counties to regulate in this space, which is already adequately regulated under federal housing law,” Triplett said. “The impact of the bill would be to reiterate that local governments cannot, by ordinance, require participation in an otherwise voluntary program.

Eric Burmeister, executive director of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, said in an interview lawmakers should allow local officials to manage the issue unless the state is willing to increase spending  on affordable housing. “Elected councilpersons of the city of Des Moines have made a choice on how best to manage its housing programs,” he said. “Until the state Legislature is prepared to step up with the resources necessary to make sure everyone has safe, stable and affordable housing, it should leave management of this program to local government.”