Daily News | To prevent housing voucher discrimination, renters, housing advocates, and city agencies want more resources
HAPCO Philadelphia, the city’s largest landlord association, which is made up mostly of small rental property owners, works with PHA and has hosted seminars for members and nonmembers to encourage them to proactively rent to people with vouchers. A large portion of the city’s landlords who have tenants with vouchers are members, according to HAPCO. But the organization has found that many landlords don’t want to take on what they see as added risks of a high-needs population.
As housing costs continue to rise, households with low incomes struggle to afford to pay rent, especially in desirable areas with lots of neighborhood amenities. Households with subsidies pay 30% of their income for rent, and federal funds cover the rest., and many households that are eligible for assistance can’t get it. Those that do get housing vouchers face a lack of available homes they can afford.Nearly 37,000 people applied for PHA housing vouchers.
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said voucher discrimination “has largely kept our most vulnerable residents from being able to find places to live in a housing market that is already hostile toward low-income people.” At Monday’s hearing, advocates and city agencies asked the city for better public education so tenants and landlords understand that refusing to accept housing subsidies is illegal; a more streamlined process to get renters into homes; faster investigations into complaints; and more funding both to encourage landlords to accept vouchers and to investigate possible discrimination.
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