Source of Income Discrimination Ban Will Receive Its Final Vote

In this Thursday, February 15th’s Council Meeting, the Source of Income Discrimination (SOI) Ban will be up for its final vote from the Urban County Council. If passed, the ordinance will take effect on March 1st, 2024.

No public comment will be taken before the final vote. If you want to contact your Councilmember about the issue, you can email them to share your voice.

Thursday’s Council Meeting will be held on February 15th at 6pm in Council Chambers. You can attend in-person or watch live on LexTV.

What is source of income discrimination?

The City of Lexington defines SOI discrimination as refusing to lease a housing unit to a tenant based on their lawful source of income.

This potential ban on Source of Income discrimination aims to provide additional housing options for people who don’t receive their income from an employer. Other sources of income could include:

• Social Security

• Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers

• Other program vouchers, including VASH for veterans

• Child Support

• Alimony

According to the City, housing options for people with these forms of income are extremely limited in Lexington. Rental listings from September 15th showed that 96% of units listed did not accept Section 8 vouchers.

Most third-party sources of income are held by low-income individuals and marginalized groups.

• In Lexington, 76% of Section 8 vouchers are held by Black households.

• Vouchers offered through the Lexington Housing Authority, including vouchers for veterans, foster families, and those needing emergency housing, have high use rates. 83%-100% of their available vouchers are being used.

Currently, many landlords in Lexington do not lease properties to renters with these sources of income. Many voucher programs require an inspection of the property and other administrative work to be done for the voucher to be used for rent. These inspections can often lead to long delays between a tenant signing a lease and them paying rent, leading to a delay in money earned to landlords and property owners.

Many state and local governments have adopted legislation banning SOI Discrimination, requiring all landlords to accept these forms of payment from otherwise eligible applicants. According to a 2022 Poverty & Race Research Action Council study, 21 states and 119 cities and counties - including Louisville and Cincinnati - have laws addressing SOI discrimination.

In the Social Services and Public Safety Committee meeting over this ordinance in January 2024, Councilmember Whitney Elliott Baxter amended the ordinance remove language extending SOI discrimination protections to homebuyers. According to David Barbery of LFUCG’s Department of Law, home purchases are primarily regulated by the Federal government, and sufficient SOI protections existed at the Federal level for homebuyers using voucher programs; this amendment, then, would have little to no impact on home purchases using third-party sources of income. You can read the amendment language here.

What’s going on in Frankfort?

There are two bills filed in the Kentucky State Legislature that would impact a local SOI discrimination ordinance.

• House Bill 18, filed by Representative Ryan Dotson, who represents Clark County and part of Fayette County, would prevent local governments from enforcing SOI discrimination bans that prevent landlords from refusing to rent to tenants participating in a federal housing assistance program.

  • If this bill passed, Lexington would not be able to include federal assistance programs in its SOI discrimination ban, but could potentially enforce one dealing with sources of income such as child support, alimony, or other sources that are not federal assistance programs.

  • This bill was passed by the full Kentucky House of Representatives on January 23rd, 2024. It was passed out of the Senate State and Local Government Committee on February 24th, and will receive a vote from the full Kentucky Senate soon.

  • An amendment was made by the Senate State and Local Government Committee, adding further language that local governments can not enforce laws on rental property management that conflict with any State laws. Since this amendment was added in the Senate, it would need to go back to the Kentucky House of Representatives to be passed again.

• Senate Bill 25, filed by Senator Stephen West, who represents a handful of counties to the Northeast of Lexington in addition to part of Fayette County, would prevent local governments from forcing landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers.

  • Since Lexington’s proposed ordinance would not force landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers, it’s unclear if or how this bill would impact Lexington’s proposed ordinance if passed. You can read more about this bill from the Kentucky Lantern here.

  • This bill was passed by the full Kentucky Senate on January 24th. It has not been assigned to a House Committee yet.

  • According to WUKY, it seems that this bill will not be passed. Rather, both the House and Senate will focus on passing House Bill 18 mentioned above.

Councilmembers Whitney Elliott Baxter, Fred Brown, Chuck Ellinger, and Kathy Plomin have all expressed heavy concern about passing a local ordinance that could be rendered unenforceable by the State legislature. In January 30th’s Council Work Session, all four of these Councilmembers voted on a motion — made by Councilmember Ellinger — to delay voting on the local SOI discrimination ban until March 2024 so they could wait and see what happened in the State legislature. No other Councilmembers voted in support of that motion.

Councilmembers Dave Sevigny, Denise Gray, Tayna Fogle, Shayla Lynch, and Vice Mayor Dan Wu all have stressed the importance of acting to pass the ordinance quickly, stating that too many people with vouchers are unable to find housing now and the Council should prioritize assisting them as soon as possible. They also argued that at any moment in time the State legislature can pass a bill that overrides any of Lexington’s ordinances, so they believe it is not prudent for Council to legislate around Frankfort.

Thursday’s Council Meeting will be held on February 15th at 6pm in Council Chambers. You can attend in-person or watch live on LexTV.