Missouri bill targets local housing protections for Section 8 renters

JEFFERSON CITY — A state representative from St. Louis County believes local governments shouldn’t require landlords to accept tenants who use federal housing assistance vouchers.

A proposal by Rep. Ben Keathley, R-Chesterfield, would block local ordinances that prohibit landlords from turning down tenants because they use federal housing assistance vouchers commonly known as “Section 8.”

The House General Laws Committee is scheduled to consider the legislation Tuesday — days after the City Council of Kansas City approved an ordinance that will require acceptance of housing vouchers.

“The bill itself doesn’t stop anyone from taking Section 8 vouchers,” Keathley said Friday. “Parties to a private contract really don’t need the government interfering, saying, well, ‘you must accept this.’”

So-called “source-of-income” anti-housing discrimination rules already exist in the city of St. Louis, Clayton, Maplewood and Webster Groves.

St. Louis, Maplewood and Webster Groves make it unlawful to “refuse to sell or rent … a dwelling to any person because of … source of income.”

Clayton’s ordinance makes it unlawful to “discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith, because of … lawful source of income.”

In St. Louis County, Councilwoman Lisa Clancy in 2019 ditched an anti- source-of-income discrimination effort amid opposition by county residents, the Call Newspapers reported at the time.

Nick Dunne, spokesman for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, said major cities across the country were seeing higher need for affordable housing. He called the state legislation under consideration “yet another attempt at preemption by the state that leaves our most vulnerable families out in the cold.”

“While the city has made great strides in investing in the construction of affordable housing, we must ensure that low-income people seeking housing are not left out of the fold,” Dunne said.

Housing advocates celebrated the vote this week in Kansas City.

KC Tenants leader Brandon Henderson told radio station KCUR that “there are a lot of folks who have the money to pay for a place to live, but for whatever reason are not considered or written off because of their source of income.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement that legislation approved there had been the product of years of discussion and months of hard work and negotiation.

“My office has been working with landlords and renters alike since 2019 to strike an appropriate balance between housing more Kansas City families, regardless of how they lawfully earn their income, while also securing enhanced protections for housing providers,” Lucas said.

“Kansas City will be a better place because of this policy,” he said. “I urge lawmakers in Jefferson City to respect the broad consensus this compromise policy secured at the local level.”

Keathley’s legislation is one of several bills looking to alter local governance this year.

The House Economic Development Committee is scheduled to take up Wednesday proposals that would exempt workers earning less than 150% the federal poverty level — or less than $21,870 annually — from the 1% city earnings tax.

A Senate committee last week heard testimony on a measure that could return the St. Louis Police Department to state control.

The legislation is House Bill 2385.