Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday approved an ordinance change that creates a protected class based on source of income, as well as status as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking or stalking. The change also disallows discrimination based on prospective tenants’ immigration status. It means that landlords will not be able to discriminatorily deny someone housing just because their rent money will come from a housing voucher, settlement, benefit, subsidy, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing voucher and more. … Many large, out-of-state landlords have stopped accepting vouchers in Lawrence, Commissioner Brad Finkeldei said — but he said in speaking to those landlords, they have said they accept them in cities or states that require them to accept vouchers, and they don’t accept them in places that don’t. He said he thought that was a pretty compelling argument.
Source: The Lawrence Times
