LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to ban landlords from discriminating against would-be tenants with government-issued housing vouchers or other rental subsidies.
The vote to introduce an anti-discrimination ordinance was 4-1, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger abstaining. Barger has been critical of measures favoring rent controls.
Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Mark Ridley-Thomas co-authored a January motion asking county lawyers to draft the ordinance, which is scheduled to come back to the board next week for a final vote, which is typically an administrative formality. The measure would take effect 30 days after that second vote.
As the county struggles to find housing for the nearly 60,000 residents without a permanent roof over their heads, policymakers are butting heads with landlords who don’t want to take Section 8 vouchers.
“Discrimination in housing is exacerbating our housing and homelessness crisis by allowing landlords to discriminate and deny leases to families who want and can pay for housing,” Kuehl said.
The federal housing vouchers are provided to low-income tenants and pay a rental subsidy to landlords to make up for the difference between what the tenant can afford and market rates.
“The ordinance will not force landlords to rent to a voucher holder, but simply prevent ruling them out as a tenant based solely on their source of income,” Ridley-Thomas said.
Despite the prohibitions against discrimination laid out in the 1968 Fair Housing Act, the vouchers are denied by Los Angeles County landlords 76% of the time, according to a 2018 survey by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Implementation of the nation’s Fair Housing Act is 50 years overdue,” Kuehl said. “L.A. County is saying we will wait no longer.”
In a letter to the board, Los Angeles County Development Authority Executive Director Monique King-Viehland said options were already limited, given a 3% vacancy rate and about 38,000 people on the waiting list for Section 8 housing. The average wait time is two to four years, according to the LACDA website.
“This form of discrimination further limits the rental inventory for rental subsidy assisted families and is thereby effectively eliminating housing choice options,” King-Viehland said.
Overall, the county has a shortage of roughly 517,000 affordable housing units, according to a report by the California Housing Partnership Corporation.
The ordinance is not limited to Section 8 vouchers, but includes other federally funded rental assistance, the county’s Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool — designed for homeless individuals with complex health issues — and rapid re-housing rental assistance.
County legislative advocates are also pressing for a similar statewide policy as proposed by Senate Bill 329, along with bans at the state level on rental rate gouging and evictions without cause.
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Oyuki says
I wouldn’t want any of those looser living next to me grow them to the desert they are trashy and loud.
Raquel says
These people live better than the hardworking people do they get everything handed to them stay up partying everyday cause they don’t work seeking the property cause it’s not theirs. I see it all the time by my house they celebrate labor day to the max like they really work wile the working ones are actually working not celebrating this is stupid.
Mike R. says
All you need to do is a employment check and a background check and that pretty much screens out 99.9% of all people on Section Eight.
You never even have to say the words “Section” and “Eight” at all.
This is just a “feel good” piece of legislation to make the people on the county board feel good about themselves while they live in Beverly Hills, Malibu, Palisades and Agoura Hills. Think any of them would live next to someone on Section Eight?
Robert says
Mike, you are so right ! None of those talking heads would want a Section 8 living next door to them.
They are all so full of it.
Stupidity says
This ordinance says you can’t “openly” discriminate against Sec. 8….”openly”!
However, a background check and employment history will screen out 99.9% of people on Sec. 8 without even saying the words.
So, in essence, this is something that looks good on paper but does nothing.
If anything, it will discourage more people from being landlords, then there will be less housing available and all the h00d rats will have to keep moving on somewhere else.
Alby says
As a “thirtyish” year old homeowner that worked his ass off and bled and paid for the little he has, there is no way in Gods green hell that the government or California idiot officials are gonna tell me that I have to tolerate the garbage that section 8 has mostly offered. Section 8 consists of mostly dirty wanabe gangsters that want to live the life that they read about from the lyrics of a stupid hip hop song. They think that they are adulting by popping out numerous babies that they cant afford while they kick back on the couch, rolling a doobie and complaining that the government owes them. its beyond pathetic. They think that the world is their dumpster let alone the property they reside in. I believe that they need a good struggle out in the homeless world for them to realize what they have been spitting on and taking for granted. Thousands of good people have given up and moved out of the A.V. because of all this ugliness. People are tired of being tired. Fortunately the Constitution was made for the Indepent and there is always a loophole that allows us to make them get the hell out of our homes sooner than usual and go somewhere where their B.S. is tolerated. If they want to bring the ghetto of L.A. over here so badly, then why dont they just move back to the ghetto of L.A. since they’re so proud of it.
Alby says
Independent. not “indepent” dammit. Sometimes I get the feeling that the A.V. is bound to be the perfect nuclear test site… especially when I’m hangry.
Kai says
Bottom line: Section 8 = People in Drug Recovery, undereducated, unemployed refusing to GET OUT and work like the rest of us and want FOR FREE what we have to earn and pay full fare for. Reinforces a “something for nothing” welfare mentality AND enables these exploitationists as they bankrupt our county and state. It is unconscionable that YOUNG, ABLE BODIED MEN & WOMEN ASPIRE TOWARDS SECTION 8 welfare assistance to provide them shelter in lieu of surviving the way self-respecting And personally responsible people do. Move in with a few friends at another family and save your money until you can afford to buy or rent a domicile. Go to school, learn a trade or earn a degree and get into the workforce and slowly make your way up the economic ladder while spending your pay check using a budget until you can afford more. It is preposterous that we would be responsible for taking care of other adults. They can go to home depot and buy vegetable seeds to plant vegetable gardens and live the way most people who don’t have much money live… With the bare necessities. This is obscene and against basic economic principles that are supposed to govern basic survival. These people are simply hustling our system and politicians are too stupid to realize that this is what’s happening and/or too spineless to do something about it. Drugs, welfare fraud, domestic violence and the proverbial “police activity” are exactly what MOST Section 8 people bring to ANY property……UNLESS THEY ARE OLDER 66+ YEARS, RETIRED COUPLES OR WIDOWS/WIDOWER. ANYTHING ELSE WILL BE A TRAVESTY
MA says
can someone explain why section 8 tenants treat their rentals so poorly? I get that they aren’t paying the full rent, but doesn’t that cause issues for them trying to rent again in the future? can’t they be sued for damage etc? does the federal program hold them accountable, i.e. you can get kicked off for causing excessive damage or complaints?
Over section 8 says
The problem is that renters have waaaaaay too many rights. They can go in and trash a place and when the landlord wants to kick them out they can’t. They go to court and get people like BASTA to help them and the landlord ends up having to pay them to leave and the property is a mess.
Kiki says
I think they get away with to much all they say is “we can’t afford to pay it we have no money” I hate them so bad they are asking the living he’ll out of the hard working people.
Steve Nevil says
Great. Let’s take away the right of a property owner to decide who can live under his or her roof, while forcibly pushing working families to the back of the application process… in favor of a population proven to create slum conditions nearly everywhere they live – all while voting religiously Democrat.
This move does not ‘ban’ discrimination, it CREATES IT. Very reminiscent of Soviet-era Communism. They liked to use humanitarian window dressing, too.
I’m inclined to do what hundreds of thousands of productive taxpayers have already done, and watch the whole thing fall apart from behind the borders of a free state. Property values here will eventually be pennies on the dollar.
mike r. says
Calm down, man…All you have to do is a background check and unemployment history check to know if someone is on Section Eight.
Steve Nevil says
You believe this will stop them from filing a claim for discrimination? 90 percent of these people show up to the party with entitlement issues and nothing else to do, and a state and county government happy to enable them as long as they continue to vote blue.
I get what you’re saying, and finding another reason to deny the application *shouldn’t* (key word) be difficult, but once that voucher is on the table the game changes, and these renters know how to play it all too well.
Eric says
This is an epic failure, lmao. Section 8 is a fraud riddles system, we need more enforcement to weed out the fraud
Enabling Section 8 says
Why not build Section 8 apartments, a building for elderly and disabled and another one for younger folks trying to get on their feet (temporary assistance)? I am tired of my neighbors on Section 8 tearing up the house they are renting, not maintaining their yards, leaving their trash cans outside and partying ’till late in the night. These properties were purchased by the original owners for $450+, we are talking about 3100-3600 sq. ft. homes. What is the incentive for these people to go out and aim for a better life if they have everything issued on a silver platter? My husband and I are up before 5a.m. to make it to work on time and my oldest son works two part-time jobs and goes to school. This is just insanity!
AJ says
I have nothing against Section 8 and government programs, but I do have a concern about working families who don’t fall under the federal poverty line. What do I mean here it goes: one working parent, family of five-2 adults, 1 works, 1 stays home to provide free day care for their own child, other parent works from home. So then you have a family that does not fall under the federal poverty line based on the numbers the federal government has. Do, now that rentals are high we do not qualify for housing assistance (section 8), calfresh, etc. Pay full rent prices from greedy landlords, buy our own groceries (do not meet guidelines for calfresh), pay for my own gas, food, phone, cable, internet. Why?? Because the government states my family of five is not poor. Bottom line: Landlords/Homeowners should have a right to decide to rent to section 8 or not. I have been a resident of the Antelope Valley since 1993 and have seen how this valley is socially and economically separated. If I lose my job of 20 years that the government states I make enough to stay above water then I run the risk of being homeless too. Then the government would allow me to possibly apply for government assistance. The system is a joke!! The government states your working making about 60,000 a year for a family of 5, your okay. Not!! I see many people in this valley that appear to be better off than me, but don’t have to work 40 plus hours. My kids do not get free school lunch, we do not own a home, we have not purchased a car since 2007. What a system..
Linds says
I know from personal experience how some Section 8 tenants keep and leave the property. As s landlord with an investment in the property why in my right mind would I rent to Section 8. It’s my property. I pay the taxes on the property and I should have the right to rent to whom I want. Isn’t there something in the constitution giving the people a right to own property. If it’s my property I should have the final say, not the State. That’s a definition of socialism. That’s not my country.
Mike R. says
A simple background check and an employment history check will still screen out 99% of all Section Eight renters.
Yo mama says
Libеrаl paradise Саlifоrniа is getting better and better, ha ha
Section 9 says
I’m sure that Sheila and Mark would love to have Section 8 tenants in their neighborhood.
Been Burnt by Section 8 says
The facts are wrong. Most landlords will rent to section 8 in a heartbeat its a guaranteed check every month. What stops most from going with a section 8 renter is your house is going to get tore up and the funds dont make up for the loss. And with no enforcement of section 8 rules in this valley it’s a big gamble not worth taking.
Tom says
Shelter is a right. Housing in an upper neighborhood and your only paying 20% of the actual mortgage is a crime while working citizens taxes cover the 80%. Section 8 is an abused system like so many others in this county. As a delivery guy I see first hand so many families on section 8 living better than hard working families with two or three jobs just barely hanging in there to make ends meet. The pride of working hard for something is a quality that is dying in this country. Section 8 for the elderly, physically disabled I’m all for, but the 20 and 30 year olds who are too lazy to get a job need some type of time period where the aid runs out. There just paving the way for the next generation to take advantage of the system.