After a signature gathering campaign, Lincoln voters are likely to be asked during the city’s upcoming general election whether to make it illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants based on how they would pay rent.
Currently, landlord are allowed to refuse lawful forms of payment such like section 8 or housing vouchers. If approved by voters on May 6, 2025, ballot property owners would no longer be able to deny a tenant housing or otherwise treat a tenant differently if they are receiving rental assistance from an alternative source of income.
Tenants using social security, veteran benefits, disability, working for tips or cash wages, and working informal jobs would also be protected.
A multitudinous coalition of 19 advocacy groups are responsible for the leg work, which produced 15,300 petition signatures in about 6 weeks. They needed to collect at least 8,825 valid signatures from registered Lincoln voters to qualify the ballot measure.
“Is it the fix? No,” said Steve Smith, a spokesman for Civic Nebraska, one of the key groups involved in the Lincoln for Fair Housing campaign. “But it is a tool to get us closer to a day where folks are safe, happy, and warm in a home in Lincoln,” he said about the larger goal of housing affordability.
Lincoln wouldn’t be the first city to establish such a protecting for renters, 23 states and more than 100 cities and towns across the U.S. have enacted similar laws.
“The evidence is clear,” Smith said on its efficacy. “You see housing get more stable in this situation. The rental market stabilizes for people who are struggling to find. The unused voucher rate gets slashed, in some places by 50% or more. That’s what we’re looking for. We’re trying to promote fairness in the rental market.”
Smith said this wouldn’t cause a big change for a vast majority of “good landlords in town,” but added that some landlords view assistance as “not worth the paper it’s printed on.”
Petition organizers prepare their collected signatures for turn-in at the Lincoln City/County building | Feb. 3, 2025 (Courtesy: Collective Impact Lincoln)
“They may consider someone with a voucher ‘less than’ someone who can pay the full rent with their own funds, like writing a check. I can’t get in their heads as to why this still occurs at in the year 2025 in Lincoln, Nebraska. But we definitely know it does,” he said.
Similar measures have been discussed among city council members in the past, none bearing fruit. Smith says while the concept of “source-of-income discrimination” may seem convoluted at first, most petition signers felt the practice was not fair after a brief conversation.
The signatures were turned over to the city clerks office Monday morning for validation. Smith says they are moving forward with their community engagement planning, saying “we have enough valid signatures, easily.”
“It’s a measured step, it’s also a meaningful step for our city to do this. We will be holding a series of events and informational gatherings… I would say once the leaves come back to the trees, we’ll be talking a lot more about this. That’s another reason to look forward to spring,” Smith laughed.
“I called every landlord I could find in Lincoln. I made around 200 phone calls. Office after office, they told me they wouldn’t take my voucher,” shared River Sky, a Lincoln renter in a statement. “Thankfully, I found one landlord who took my voucher and rented me a clean, decent, and safe place to live. I’ve been their loyal tenant ever since. I pay my rent early, keep my place clean and neat, and never cause trouble. I’m a great tenant and a kind, thoughtful neighbor, but you’d never know it from how other landlords talked down to me. This has to end. People in Lincoln deserve a home, whether we’re poor, struggling, or disabled.”
“Housing discrimination is inherently inefficient,” added Reid Gahan, a Lincoln landlord. “It reduces choice not only for tenants but also for landlords. By removing the option to discriminate based on source of income, I believe landlords will be presented with more and better options than before. I am excited for a future where Zillow isn’t full of six-month-old rental listings with those inefficient words: No vouchers allowed.”
For more information on Lincoln For Fair Housing, visit fairhousinglnk.org. Groups associated with the coalition include:
- Nebraska Appleseed
- Civic Nebraska
- The League of Women Voters of Lincoln-Lancaster County
- Proyecto Cultural
- The Clinton Neighborhood Organization
- The Asian Community and Cultural Center
- Voices of Hope
- The Hub Central Access Point
- The Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence
- The Arc of Nebraska
- The Center for People
- Intertribal Spiritual Lodges
- Nebraskans for Peace
- Stand In Nebraska
- Unionize UNL’s steering committee
- The Lincoln Indian Center
- YWCA-Lincoln
- Justice in Action
- NAACP Lincoln