SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio City Council voted 11-0 Thursday afternoon to keep many landlords from refusing to rent to veterans based only on their use of federal housing vouchers.
But supporters of the idea say the compromise version of the idea passed by council isn’t a full victory.
More than 2,000 veterans in San Antonio use Housing Choice Vouchers — commonly known as Section 8 — or vouchers through the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program, according to estimates presented by city staff.
However, veterans and their supporters say voucher holders are currently limited in where they can use them.
Vouchers generally cover the difference between what the voucher holder can chip in, based on 30% of their household income, and the fair market rent of a unit.
But not every landlord accepts the vouchers, which come with inspection requirements and a reputation for delays in landlords getting paid.
Under the city’s new rules, though, any landlord who owns at least five rental units cannot deny a military veteran a place to rent simply because they plan to pay with a voucher. The city expects to revisit the idea in six months.
The city says it doesn’t have the authority to apply the rules for other, non-veteran voucher holders.
The change was born from an idea pushed by the American GI Forum of Bexar County and championed by Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, an Air Force veteran.
Though the city estimates the new rules would apply to at least 227,000 rental units in the city, both Jones and the GI Forum had wanted them to apply to every rental in the city.
But other council members worried about hurting landlords with only a few units and supported the five-unit threshold.
“The businesses have a little bit more cushion than a single person renting out their house, who may, if they have to go three months without payment, not be able to make their mortgage payment,” said Councilwoman Sukh Kaur (D1).
“We frankly got as far as we could,” Jones told KSAT after the vote. “My colleagues put on there a couple of amendments that frankly don’t make it so that we’re prohibiting discrimination outright. I hope we can get there in six months.”
The mayor scoffed at the tiered penalty system that was included in the final version, which would only hit violators with a $500 fee after the third violation instead of the first.
“So literally, our penalties for dogs off the leash are more strict than somebody who discriminates against a veteran based on how they pay,” she said.
Jones’ attempt to amend the ordinance before the final passage failed in a 4-7 vote to the sound of jeers from the crowd.
Pete Bernal, the commander of the local American GI Forum, is worried the rules council members passed will allow some landlords to escape through “loopholes.” But he thinks there will be more debate when the city revisits the idea.
“This is obviously going to come out more as we start reporting more. And get our vets — say ‘Don’t be scared vets! This is an opportunity for you to start advocating for yourselves,’” Bernal said.
The new rules take effect immediately, and veterans who believe they’ve been denied a rental unit because of their housing voucher can call 311, the Neighborhood and Housing Services Department’s Fair Housing Division, or the Office of Compliance, Opportunity and Access to make a complaint.
Other council members, led by Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5), have been pushing a different approach, using incentive payments for landlords that accept housing vouchers.
That strategy is expected to be discussed as part of the city’s budget process.
Read also: