PHOENIX — The City of Phoenix now has the go-ahead to enforce its new law banning landlords and sellers from discriminating against renters and buyers for their source of income.
This would include those on Section 8 housing, social security or any other fixed-income programs.
The city council passed the ordinance on March 1, however, it couldn’t go into effect for several reasons.
The city was waiting on an Attorney General ruling on a similar Tucson law. The City of Tucson passed a similar law last year but had to put it on pause since then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich said it violates state law.
Just last week, current Attorney General Kris Mayes said it is legal in a 28-page opinion.
The new developments serve as a win for advocates and for people who feel they’ve been discriminated against for being on a fixed income.
“It was like a day of reckoning coming. I hope that now we can go into the next step that finally someone heard us,” said Catharine Wilkins, who said she feels she was discriminated against for her source of income.
Wilkins had been independent for most of her life until recently. She was paying for her own apartment and lived on her own.
She tells ABC15 she was able to make rent with the fixed income she was on until they started raising the rent. Now, she lives in a house her daughter pays for.
“Here I am, 63 years old. I worked two or three jobs at a time. For people to tell me, oh know, we’re not going to rent to you because you don’t have sufficient enough rent. Well, I was making my rent until you started going up and up and making it impossible,” she said.
Carla Naranjo, with Unemployed Workers United, said it is discriminatory for places to raise the rent on people who are in low-income housing complexes.
While rent rises, those on fixed incomes are not getting the same amount of an increase in their pay, Naranjo said.
“When our most vulnerable are being impacted by harmful housing policies, that is a reflection on all of us and makes it difficult for all of us to access affordable quality housing,” she said.
Wilkins had to rely on her daughter after her rent kept increasing. She said without her daughter, she’d be in a shelter, homeless.
While many are celebrating the new ordinance and Mayes’ decision, others are not.
The Arizona Multihousing Association’s President and CEO Courtney Gilstrap LeVinus is against the ban, saying in a statement:
The Tucson and Phoenix source of income ordinances were unlawful when enacted and recognized as unlawful by the Attorney General's Office after a thorough investigation. They remain unlawful today. Under these ordinances, families who have invested in real estate are losing control of their own property. That’s unfair and, more importantly, it’s illegal. We will continue to work to protect their property rights.
“To be clear, our opposition has nothing to do with the source of the income but rather the strings attached. The Tucson and Phoenix ordinances force rental owners to contract with the government to accept Section 8 vouchers, a federal HUD program that since inception has been a voluntary program. Every year, more than 10,000 rental owners leave the HUD Section 8 program due to bureaucratic red tape, late payments and onerous requirements. This compelled government program is wrong for the housing industry and for Arizona. It drives away future development, which results in fewer homes and apartments being built. That will make our housing crisis exponentially worse.
If there are no legal challenges, Phoenix’s new ordinance will go into effect after a 30-day wait period from when it was approved.
