For some Lexington renters, a housing voucher can be ‘life or death.’ Landlords push back
For Kenny Jenkins, access to a federal housing voucher and a safe place to rent has kept him alive.
“It’s a matter of life or death,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins is disabled and dependent on oxygen. He can work only 20 hours a week and still receive disability benefits. He uses a federal housing voucher to pay rent.
“In order to live, I need oxygen,” Jenkins said. “I have to be able to plug it in.”
Jenkins said too many people in Fayette County who receive federal housing vouchers can’t find landlords who will accept them. It’s time to change that, he said.
Jenkins was one of more than 50 people who spoke at a three-hour special public meeting about a proposal that would ban source of income discrimination by landlords.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council started debate on the controversial proposal in October. Tuesday’s meeting of the Social Services and Public Safety Committee was called so people could speak on the proposal.
The ban would prevent landlords from discriminating against someone with a housing voucher or third-party payments such as other federal funding or alimony.
Those who are in favor of the ban said the majority of federal housing voucher holders, now called Housing Choice and previously known as Section 8 vouchers, are Black. Yet the majority of rental properties available to voucher holders are on the city’s North side, a recent review of rental properties that take Housing Choice vouchers showed.
Social service providers, particularly those who work with the homeless and those with mental health issues, said they are struggling to find landlords willing to take vouchers for their clients.
Landlords who oppose the measure say the government should not dictate whom they must rent to. Other landlords said the inspection process to accept Housing Choice vouchers is too onerous, a charge the Lexington Housing Authority denies. Landlords also told the council Tuesday making landlords accept Section 8 vouchers could result in a hike in rents.
Louisville and Cincinnati have similar source of income bans.
Councilwoman Jennifer Reynolds, chairwoman of the council’s Social Services and Public Safety Committee, said after Tuesday’s meeting the committee will take up the ordinance again after the first of the year.
‘Forced to remain homeless’
The vast majority of people who spoke Tuesday were in favor of the ban.
Chris Primeaux, housing coordinator for Arbor Youth Services — Central Kentucky’s only shelter for kids, young adults and teens — said she spends hours on the phone each week scrambling to find a landlord who will accept the vouchers the shelter uses to help get young adults and teens into a rental unit and a path toward independence.
“These young adults are forced to remain homeless,” Primeaux said.
Betsy Schein, a case manager with Kentucky Refugee Ministries, said she recently had a refugee family who spent months living in a motel room because no landlords would take the organization’s payments. Kentucky Refugee Ministries helps pay rent for recent refugees for up to nine months.
Schein said it’s become increasingly difficult to find landlords who will accept payments that are not tied to income.
“They have been hard pressed to find landlords who will take them,” Schein said.
Sharon Price, executive director of Community Action Council of Central Kentucky, said there is a direct correlation between housing stability and education attainment. Studies have shown kids who frequently move from school to school often struggle academically, socially and emotionally, she said.
“You need one in order to do well in the other,” Price said of housing and education.
Kelly Asher, leasing specialist for the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, said, “Finding a property owner who accepts housing vouchers is like striking gold.”
Asher said it can take months, even with help from organizations like his, to find a landlord willing to take any type of third party payment.
‘Huge delays in inspections’
Zac Peterson said he took Housing Choice, or Section 8, when he first started as a landlord.
He left the program because of shoddy oversight, he said. Inspections are required.
“There were huge delays in inspections. Some of the inspections were nit picky,” Peterson said. “It ended up being costly and time consuming.”
Chris Johnson said he, too, has curtailed participation in the program because more than 90% of his experiences were negative.
“I’ve had multiple tenants destroy my property,” Johnson said. Because people who use the housing voucher have limited income, it’s nearly impossible for landlords to recover costs for damaged property, they have argued.
Johnson said he spoke with several Louisville landlords prior to Tuesday’s meeting.
“None spoke in favor,” Johnson said. Johnson said he was told by many Louisville landlords they increased rents and background requirements so they did not have to meet the guidelines for Housing Choice vouchers.
Robert Jones, president of the Central Kentucky Apartment Association, said the proposed ban will not create more affordable housing.
The reason why many rental properties that accept federal housing vouchers are on the city’s north side is because to receive federal funding for those affordable housing projects, they have to be in certain sections of the city.
“This is not an ‘us’ verses ‘them,’” Jones said.
Lexington Housing Authority pushes back
Austin Simms, executive director of the Lexington Housing Authority, said the housing authority supports the ban or any measure that would undo housing discrimination in Lexington.
The housing authority oversees the Housing Choice Voucher program, which works with 700 landlords throughout Lexington.
To receive federal funding, inspections are required. Those inspection rules are set by federal guidelines. However, the housing authority has worked to make the process efficient for landlords and tenants, he said.
Those inspections are to guarantee federal housing money is not spent on substandard rental units, Simms said.
“I know our voucher program is well managed,” Simms said. Landlords should find out from the housing authority about its programs and not listen to rhetoric pushed by some landlords, he said.
“Try us.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2023 at 11:17 AM.
