Jessica Mathews / www.newsservice.org


Legislation in Michigan is an attempt to counter homelessness and poverty by making it more difficult for landlords to turn down prospective tenants based on their source of income. But people working in the field say even passing these bills won't be enough to curb the state's affordable housing crunch.

People can't be denied a place to live based on their race or disability in Michigan, but some are being turned down based on where they get the money to pay their rent.

Veterans using assistance, retirees on Social Security, parents who get child support or families who use housing vouchers are not protected by anti-discrimination laws. All can be denied rental opportunities even though they have consistent income.

Nora Ryan of Michigan Legal Help says these types of restrictions defeat the purpose of housing vouchers, which are supposed to allow people greater access to homes and neighborhoods – but the vouchers are often difficult to use.
"You have a relatively short period of time to be able to place that voucher. A lot of landlords do not accept those vouchers. You can actually run out of time to use that voucher, and you can lose it. That ticket to stable, affordable housing is cut off."

In the Michigan Legislature, Senate Bills 205, 206 and 207 would prohibit source-of-income discrimination, and allow renters who are turned down the right to seek "remedies for the discrimination" if they can prove they suffered a loss as a result. The idea was first introduced in the 2021 session, and is still in committee this year.

Housing Attorney Jim Schaafsma with the Michigan Poverty Law Program says worries that if money for federal housing programs doesn't increase based on the rate of inflation, vouchers and other types of assistance could be jeopardized. He says Michigan's state legislation won't be enough to help the overall housing situation.

Schaafsma said "What we need is a significant increase in the supply of affordable housing in Michigan. But even more specific to the voucher program, what we need are what are known as higher payment standards – because the higher the value of a voucher, the better the opportunities are for families to rent units in the place of their choice."

Adding urgency to the problem is that rent for a typical home in the Detroit metro area has increased by nearly 36-percent in the past five years, according to Zillow's March 2023 Rental Market Report.

Photo: newsservice.org.