In August of 2022, the Center filed complaints with the City of Detroit Civil Rights, Inclusion and Opportunity Department (CRIO) on behalf of a Detroit resident against and on its own behalf against a management company and the apartment complex. The complaints alleged violation of Detroit’s Municipal Code, Article VI, Section 23-6-1 (Selling or leasing real estate—Unlawful practices), which prohibit discrimination on grounds of “public benefit status”. The “public benefit status” protected class category provides similar, if not broader coverage, than is provided under the source of income (SOI) protected class category.

The complaints were summarized in a prior post. On November 6, 2023, CRIO, after completing a thorough investigation, found that the management company and the apartment complex engaged in discrimination in violation of Section 23-6-1:

"[I]it appears that Respondents misrepresented or misled you as to the actual income requirements needed to qualify for rent approval. Specifically, you were told you needed income three times the rental rate (or $1,195), which would be a monthly income of at least $3,585, instead of three times your portion of rent ($371) –an amount of rent minus the subsidy.

"Although Respondent denied these allegations, the anonymous testing completed by Fair Housing of Metropolitan Detroit supports your allegations in that all testers who inquired about rent requirements for someone with a voucher were misinformed as to income requirements. Moreover, Respondent Modli Management stated that that they didn’t have tenants with vouchers at Lindley Apartments because “those people cannot afford the rents”.

"We believe Respondent Modli Management misled you as to income requirements to discourage your application because you have a voucher. This practice is considered illegal and discriminatory under Detroit Code 23. Our finding is that Respondents illegally discriminated against you in violation of Detroit’s laws against discrimination in housing."

Unfortunately, testing conducted by the Center in other areas of our Metropolitan Detroit community has shown widespread violations of SOI requirements.

Nor is this limited to the Metropolitan Detroit community. For example, a recent report showed widespread violations of SOI protections in Memphis, Tennessee: “Our report finds that there is significant discrimination based on source of income in both Memphis and Shelby County. For instance, out of the 32 tests conducted in Phase Two, 84.4% of tests, or 27 out of 32 test parts, documented discrimination based on the tester’s source of income. In Memphis, 75% of tests (12 of 16) showed evidence of source of income discrimination. In Shelby County, a total of 93.8% of tests (15 of 16) revealed evidence of source of income discrimination.” As to the types of violations, the Memphis report “identified the following policies and practices as barriers to finding safe, affordable housing for HCV recipients: ‘No Section 8’ policies; HCV Tenant Quotas; Steering or restricting access to housing; Employment requirements; Minimum Income Requirements; [and] Payment Requirements.”

The Memphis report also found a racial component to the SOI violations: “In addition to the policy and procedural obstacles, Black testers faced added barriers to finding housing due to race. For example, out of 16 matched-pair tests between Black and White female testers, six tests, or 37.5%, showed evidence of discrimination based on race.”

All such violations are avoidable. The New York State Division of Human Rights has issued helpful guidance. The Center provides training on SOI protections and is always available to answer questions that landlords, housing providers, tenants, and others may have concerning SOI protections.

The Center is hopeful that through training and guidance, such violations of SOI protections in Michigan will become infrequent, and that voucher holders will obtain the housing to which they are entitled. 

• November 6, 2023 findings of the City of Detroit Civil Rights, Inclusion and Opportunity Department
• The Bad Housing Blues: Discrimination in the Housing Choice Voucher Program in Memphis, TN (The Thurgood Marshall Institute 2022)
• New York State Division of Human Rights, Guidance on Protections from Source of Income Discrimination in Housing Under the New York State Human Rights Law (2020)