SB 329: Housing protection for those who receive vouchers or subsidies

California's protection of low-income tenants got a bit more robust with the enactment of Senate Bill 329 this year. There is -- undeniably -- a housing crisis in California. Part of that crisis stems from the rising cost of rent pushing low-income residents out of the places they have called home for generations. Several programs exist to address that issue, though, and probably none more prominent than the use of housing vouchers. Under most housing voucher programs, low-income tenants can commit a fixed percentage of their income to rent, and the program then pays their landlords any difference with a voucher. But it is difficult for tenants to obtain those vouchers. For instance, in Fresno in 2018, only 17% of the 21,000 applicants for Section 8 vouchers were approved. It has also become difficult to use those vouchers. Of those limited Section 8 recipients in Fresno, less than half were able to redeem their vouchers before the vouchers expired. That latter issue is what SB 329 attempts to address.

Under SB 329, California's housing discrimination law will now protect those who receive any vouchers or subsidies -- federal, state or local -- to secure housing. California law previously protected tenants from discrimination on account of their "source of income," but that definition was limited to the income that the tenant personally received. Because vouchers are paid directly to the landlord but not the tenant, they did not fall under the definition of "source of income," and landlords were free to deny housing to individuals on that basis.

While some, including the California Association of Realtors, have argued that SB 329 will mandate that landlords approve all applications from tenants using vouchers, the bill itself makes clear that it simply prohibits landlords from denying applications on that basis. According to its preamble, the Legislature's intent was "to provide a participant in a housing voucher program an opportunity to receive a thorough and fair vetting when they seek housing." The bill's sponsor, State Sen. Holly Mitchell, echoed that same sentiment, declaring that landlords "would simply be barred from refusing someone's application based solely on their source of income."

This all matters because the reach of the bill will be extensive. According to the Center on Budget and Priorities, nearly 300,000 low-income Californians rely on state and federal housing vouchers to afford rent. Further, the law applies to all landlords in California except those who rent a portion of their owner-occupied single-family home. When Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a handful of tenant protections this past year, he described them as "among the strongest in the nation." According to the National League of Cities, only eleven states and the District of Columbia currently provide housing protection to those receiving vouchers, meaning Newsom was correct that the passage of SB 329 cements California as one of the most protective states when it comes to housing discrimination.

Samuel Cortina is an associate in the Los Angeles office of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, a law firm with a dedicated and proud history of providing pro bono assistance for tenants throughout Los Angeles.