If you are a Housing Choice / Section 8 voucher holder, and you have been denied by a landlord because you have a voucher, you may have experienced discrimination based on your source of income. If you or someone you know may have experienced source of income discrimination, the Public Interest Law Center wants to hear from you. Contact Madison Gray at 267.546.1306 or mgray@pubintlaw.org.

About 22,000 Philadelphia households maintain Housing Choice Vouchers (a.k.a Section 8), and thousands more sit on a years-long waiting list, hoping to receive one of the few forms of assistance provided to low-income tenants. Most Philadelphia voucher holders—70 percent—earn less than $20,000 per year and have a deeply limited ability to afford housing without a subsidy, facing a substantial risk of homelessness.

In Philadelphia, renters who use Housing Choice Vouchers, 84 percent of whom are Black, face widespread discrimination in their search for rental housing. A 2018 study from the Urban Institute found that 67 percent of landlords in Philadelphia refuse to accept vouchers—and this rejection rate rises to 83 percent in low-poverty neighborhoods. The widespread refusal to accept vouchers limits the ability of these renters to access safe and affordable housing in diverse neighborhoods, deepening racial segregation and the concentration of poverty.

Even though the practice of refusing vouchers is widespread, it is prohibited in Philadelphia. The Fair Practices Ordinance, which forbids discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations, explicitly bars landlords from refusing to rent based on “any lawful source of income, [including]…housing assistance programs.” And renters who use public assistance are also covered by federal, state, and local fair housing laws that prohibit discrimination based on race and disability.

In our work taking on source of income discrimination, we represent tenants who face steep barriers to safe and healthy housing because of how they pay rent and advocate for more effective enforcement of fair housing laws.

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