Source of income discrimination is a refusal to rent to an applicant because of that person’s lawful source of income or an unwillingness to consider certain types of lawful income in qualifying a person for tenancy. One common type of source of income discrimination is a refusal to rent to applicants that receive rental assistance or a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8).
Source of income is not a protected class under either federal or state fair housing laws. That means that unless there is a local law which has established source of income protection, landlords and property managers can choose whether or not to accept rental assistance or Housing Choice Vouchers. A few cities and other municipalities in Pennsylvania have passed ordinances protecting consumers against source of income discrimination in housing, so it is important to know your local laws. For example, the City of Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Ordinance prohibits landlords and other property owners from discriminating against persons based on source of income. This law is enforced by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.
Some situations where housing providers refuse to accept certain types of non-employment income are considered illegal discrimination under state and federal fair housing laws. Landlords and property managers may not refuse to accept types of income that are directly associated with state or federal protected classes such as child support (which is directly associated with familial status) or SSDI (which is directly associated with disability). Housing providers may not apply criteria regarding the acceptance of non-employment income differently to different applicants based on their membership in one or more protected classes. For example, a landlord that accepted housing choice vouchers from white applicants but not from Black applicants would be violating fair housing laws prohibiting different treatment based on race. If you live in Philadelphia, Southeast Pennsylvania or the Lehigh Valley and have experienced discrimination, contact info@equalhousing.org, 866-540-FAIR or report discrimination.
