Investigation of Landlords Violating Potential Tenant’s Housing Rights for Failure to Accept Section 8 Housing Vouchers from Persons of Color

The Public Interest Law Center and Drinker Biddle under the auspices of the Foundation's High Impact Project have filed complaints with the Philadelphia Human Rights Commission against landlords refusing to accept Section 8 Housing Vouchers from potential tenants who have low incomes.

In Philadelphia, Section 8 Housing Vouchers are administered through the Housing Choice Voucher program. More than 20,000 families are served by the program and the majority of them are minorities. Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Ordinance prohibits landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income, including the use of Housing Choice Vouchers. The defendants in these cases have violated the Fair Practices Ordinance because they refused to accept tenants using Housing Choice Vouchers. The complaints are the first of their kind filed in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Inquirer featured a story about the case that can be found here.

The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations approved the settlement of one of the cases between Ms. Anglin and the property owners, the Gotzis that was initiated under the Philadelphia ordinance. Meanwhile, the property management company, Allegiance, rejected the settlement because they wanted complete confidentiality. The Commission will be scheduling a public hearing on the violation of the ordinance.