Section 8 – Now is the Right Time

September 6, 2006 1:00 pm

Tomorrow night, the County Board is going to be taking up the Section 8 non-discrimination ordinance. Currently, the State of Wisconsin, Dane County and the City of Madison have laws and ordinance that protect tenants from discrimination based on “source of income”. However, the courts decided that while Section 8 is a subsidy for the tenant – techinically, it is not “income”, since the tenant does not recieve the money and does not have discretion over how to spend it. So, an ordinance has been proposed that includes Section 8 in the definition of Section 8.

This is not a radical lefty Madison-only idea. This has been done all over the United States. And not just in

East Palo Alto
San Francisco
Portland Oregon
Seattle
Chicago
Howard County, Maryland
King County, Washington
Multnomah County, Oregon
Montgomery County . . .

but also in

Utah
Connecticutt
District of Columbia
Maine
Massachusetts
Vermont

Like I said, not a radical idea. All over the United States Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and landlords have figured out a way to make this work . . . and the sky has not fallen.

Now, much has been said and it would take me quite a while to respond to everything but here’s a few quick facts:

During the week of July 23, 2006 of 116 landlords in Dane County that were reached and have apartments that are below the Fair Market Rate, 57% (66) of them said they do not take Section 8.
It is no harder to evict someone on Section 8 than any other tenant.
A landlord can choose not to renew a lease for a Section 8 tenant under the same terms and conditions as any other tenant.
Just because a landlord accepts one Section 8 tenant it doesn’t mean they have to take all Section 8 tenants. Landlords can, and should, still screen their tenants.

And I know landlords are threatening to do the following:

Raise their rents above the limit that Section 8 will allow
Screen more tenants out so they don’t have to accept Section 8 tenants
Sue

The first two would be illegal under the new law. The third is expected.

But the bottom line remains the same . . . finding housing when you already have restrictions of finding a home that is within the price range of Section 8 requirements is difficult, but finding a home close to your kids’ school, or daycare, or work, or a grocery store, or a bus line . . . becomes even harder. If we can make 57% more apartments available, its the right thing to do, and now is the right time to do it. And I want to applaud the supervisors who have sponsored this amendment . . .