Your Advocacy Is Needed!
MI Senate passed bills to help tenants. Now MI House must.
Source of Income protections seek to make it illegal for a landlord, property manager or other entity to discriminate against anyone based on their legal income source.
Under current Michigan Law, there is no clear prohibition against a landlord refusing to accept legal sources of income outside of employment, including: Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), Retirement/Pension, Veteran Benefits, Alimony, Child support, Government Assistance such as MDHHS Cash Assistance, Supplemental Security Income, or Social Security Disability Income.
Who Uses Rental Assistance? 21 percent are seniors aging in place, 26 percent are people with disabilities living independently, 57 percent are families with children avoiding homelessness.
In a 2018 survey, 44% of Michigan homeless service providers said landlords typically will not rent to people with vouchers.
Only 13 Michigan municipalities have source of income protections. In areas without these protections where some landlords refuse to accept housing vouchers, voucher holders find it difficult to find and lease housing — oftentimes losing their voucher for not finding a home in the program’s allotted time.
MI House Bills 4062 and 4063 will protect tenants from source of income discrimination. These bills could be slated for a vote in the House this year, after being favorably voted out of the MI Senate last fall.
Find your House Rep at house.mi.gov & Contact TODAY! Indicate your support for HB 4062 & 4063 and ask they get a Judiciary Committee hearing.