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Missouri Republicans are trying to overturn Kansas City’s ban on housing discrimination

A person with hair dyed blue and purple and multi-colored glasses stands in front of the doors to the Mid-Continent Public Library.
Savannah Hawley-Bates
/
KCUR 89.3
Brandy Granados has been homeless since May 2024. They were awarded a housing voucher and are currently looking for a place to rent. Granados is worried that if the state overturns Kansas City's ban on source of income discrimination, their landlord could refuse to renew their lease.

Kansas City banned landlords from rejecting tenants based solely on how they pay their rent, their credit score or previous evictions. A Missouri Republican representative, who's a landlord himself, wants to override the ban.

Brandy Granados has been homeless since May 2024. They have bipolar disorder, and it’s hard to keep a full-time job while dealing with bouts of mania and depression. Granados has been working with a mental health case worker to secure a housing voucher to help pay for rent while they work towards their substitute teaching certificate.

Earlier this month, Granados found out they were approved for rent on a two-bedroom apartment. Finally, they saw a chance to find stable housing — including a place for their son.

“He's living with his dad right now,” said Granados, who is also a member of the housing union KC Tenants. We've seen each other twice in eight months because I'm sleeping on a couch and I don't really have a place for him to come visit me.”

But finding a place to rent with a voucher isn’t easy. Voucher recipients only have 60 days to get into an apartment, a process that includes dozens of pages of application paperwork, finding the money to pay application fees and a deposit and getting a prospective place inspected.

The 60-day clock doesn’t start over if the apartment doesn’t pass inspection or the landlord rejects Granados’ application.

Kansas City’s source of income discrimination ban, which went into effect in August of last year, prohibits landlords from rejecting a tenant solely based on their credit score, previous evictions, convictions or arrests, or how they pay rent. That includes Section 8 housing vouchers and other forms of government assistance.

“It makes the process a lot easier,” said Granados. “I'm really trying to make this my last time being homeless and a voucher helps with that. But if I lose the voucher, that means being separated from my son that much longer.”

A person's hands overlap. On the top wrist are bracelets spelling out the names Jude, Jenny, and Joe.
Savannah Hawley-Bates
/
KCUR 89.3
Brandy Granados has been separated from their son since they became homeless in May of last year. Granados wears bracelets with the names of all their children and hopes that one day soon they and their young son will be able to live together again.

The law has been controversial from the start. Two landlords sued Kansas City just months after the policy went into effect, saying they have a right to refuse tenants who use government-funded housing vouchers.

Now, a Missouri Republican is trying to override Kansas City’s ban in the Missouri Legislature.

Rep. Chris Brown, a Kansas City Republican, introduced a bill that would prohibit local governments from requiring landlords to rent to people who use federal housing assistance, including Section 8 vouchers. It would also block cities from banning landlords from using credit scores, eviction history or criminal records when evaluating tenants.

That legislation would effectively preempt Kansas City’s source of income discrimination ban. Brown, who is a landlord himself, said he heard from other landlords that the city’s ban made them consider no longer renting housing within city limits.

Brown believes landlords will be more incentivized to rent to low-income renters without all the “bureaucratic red tape.”

“We’re trying to improve the situation,” Brown said. “I would submit that what this ban is going to do, it's going to take rental property out of the market.”

Brown said he’s heard from landlords who are thinking about raising rents because of the costs associated with accepting housing vouchers. He believes that will make the housing crisis worse.

Mayor Quinton Lucas, who championed the city’s ban and worked alongside the citywide tenant union KC Tenants to craft it, said he heard those same threats when the legislation was getting passed. Since then, Lucas said he’s heard no complaints — and hasn’t seen an exodus of renters to neighboring communities after a ban.

“We are going to make sure that we are as effective as possible in enforcing this anti-discrimination ordinance and making sure that we're fair to people,” Lucas said. “I mean, this is local government bending over backward to make sure that we are as fair as possible to landlords.”

A man stands at a podium with microphones. A group of people stand on the steps behind him.
Celisa Calacal
/
KCUR 89.3
The city's source of income discrimination ban went into effect in August 2024. Now, Missouri Republicans seek to overturn the ordinance and others like it across the state.

The city instituted a $1 million mitigation fund to offset the costs of accepting vouchers to ease landlords’ concerns. The law also created a landlord liaison position at City Hall.

The legislation also clarifies that landlords can deny renters, so long as they consider other factors besides how tenants pay their rent. Landlords are not forced to accept Section 8 renters, but the law does prohibit them from using language like “no Section 8” or “no past evictions” in their rental advertisements.

Gina Chiala, the executive director for the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom, said Brown’s legislation is another example of the state being “disrespectful” to local governments.

“This preemption law is just another example of the state — in response to lobbying by major corporations and major industries — taking away the power of local citizens to enforce the laws that they thought they fought for,” she said.

Lucas said the city will fight Brown’s bill and other preemptive measures, like one sponsored by St. Louis Republican Rep. Ben Keathley, against the source of income discrimination ban.

Lucas and City Council member Jonathan Duncan, who also sponsored the ban, testified Wednesday in opposition to the preemptive bans.

In the meantime, the Kansas City Housing Authority has a waitlist of more than 35,000 people for its Housing Choice Voucher and Public Housing programs. People usually wait up to three years for a voucher.

According to KC Tenants, about 7,000 tenants in Kansas City currently use Section 8 vouchers. Before the city’s ban, only around 20% of landlords accepted housing vouchers. Neither the group nor the city had data on how often renters reported violations of the ban.

Granados has about 40 days left to find a place to live before their voucher expires. Thanks to Kansas City’s source of income discrimination ban, they’re confident they’ll be able to find an apartment they like.

Still, Granados says they’re “angry” at state representatives trying to revoke Kansas City’s ban and those like it in Clayton, Columbia, Saint Louis and Webster Groves.

Granados has two previous cases against a landlord on their record — cases that Granados won — that have previously harmed their chances at housing because prospective landlords thought they were evictions. Under Kansas City’s ban, landlords can’t reject them simply because of those cases. But Granados is scared about their future in housing if Brown and Keathley’s bills are successful.

“I worry if the ban gets reversed that, when my lease is up, the landlord could decide they no longer take Section 8,” Granados said. “Then I could end up homeless all over again.”

As KCUR's local government reporter, I’ll hold our leaders accountable and show how their decisions about development, transit and the economy shape your life. I meet with people at city council meetings, on the picket lines and in their community to break down how power and inequities change our community. Email me at savannahhawley@kcur.org.
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