Home Elusive Home: Low-income Lincoln renters often turned away

After six months spent homeless in Lincoln, couchsurfing and staying in cheap hotel rooms with her kids, Elizabeth Ramirez got what seemed like a lifeline: A Section 8 housing choice voucher to help pay rent.

But then she started calling landlords. The first one turned her down, then a second and a fifth.

More than 20 landlords said no, Ramirez says, most right after she said the word “voucher.”

“They don’t care about anything else. They don’t ask questions,” Ramirez said.

It got so bad that, as the clock ticked – Lincoln voucher holders have only 90 days before the voucher expires – Ramirez wrote a personal letter to landlords explaining how domestic violence derailed her life. She did it to “sell herself,” she says, and prove she isn’t the negative stereotype of a Section 8 user.

It worked. A south Lincoln landlord who had previously refused Section 8 decided to rent to her after reading the letter.

Until it didn’t. She’s since had to move, and her current lease is almost up.

Ramirez is again looking for housing, and again worried.

“Maybe it would be different if it was just me, but I have to think of the four kids that are expecting me to be able to figure things out,” Ramirez said.

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What Ramirez calls her “hard” situation is hardly unique. In Lincoln, about 30% of Section 8 vouchers expired each year before the person was able to find housing, a Flatwater Free Press analysis of public housing records between 2015 and 2023 found.

That’s almost 1 in 3 people who applied for assistance, waited, received a voucher from the Lincoln Housing Authority but then didn’t find housing in time.

Local advocacy groups have urged Lincoln’s city council to pass an ordinance banning discrimination based on a potential tenant’s source of income, saying it’s needed to protect renters like Ramirez. They delivered city leaders a petition with more than 500 signatures in December.

But some Lincoln landlords worry that an ordinance could force them to rent to risky tenants, and make the process more complicated with government involvement.

Seven months later, no ordinance has been brought forward and vouchers continue to expire.

Caught in Red Tape?

The federal housing choice voucher program, also known as Section 8, comes with paperwork, agents and inspections – red tape that can make participation less appealing for property owners.

When Ramirez’s lease ended this year, her landlord wanted her to go month-to-month. Ramirez didn’t sign, unsure because she believes the voucher only covers a full year lease. Now she’s trying to contact LHA to untangle the confusion.

Some property owners aren’t willing to “jump through the hoops” to raise rent, change lease agreements or adhere to Section 8 inspection rules, said Lynn Fisher, who owns several Lincoln apartment buildings.

Fisher chooses to rent to Section 8 holders, but he’s opposed to any law requiring landlords to accept vouchers – or any other type of rental assistance.

“We just think that the government shouldn’t be in a position to tell us what we can and cannot consider when we’re trying to figure out the best risk we have on renting to someone,” Fisher said.

Some local organizations in Lincoln cover rent for the people they assist, without assuming the liability that a co-signer like a parent would for a potentially risky tenant like a college student, Fisher said.

Those tenants didn’t have a financial stake in their living situation, Fisher said, and they didn’t fear the consequences of being a bad tenant, often causing trouble and leaving damage with no way to recoup.

“It’s very complex,” Fisher said, “So I don’t know that it’s a big enough problem to be able to say, here’s a proposal, we’re going to burden 100% of all housing providers for the plight of small minorities of people.”

Other Lincoln landlords think the concerns about Section 8 bureaucracy are overblown.

Reid Gahan has rented part of his duplex to a family using Section 8 for several years. He said he only needed to pass one inspection, after which he had to install a handrail and upgrade some electrical outlets.

Gahan said it’s easy to rent with Section 8, and benefits him because he can rely on a direct deposit a week early each month.

“It’s just code, there’s no additional requirements,” Gahan said. “If the argument is ‘I don’t want to do it, because I have to get up to code,’ then you’re renting out buildings that aren’t up to code.”

To Ordinance or not to Ordinance

In cities that have passed laws banning source of income discrimination, more families use vouchers to move to neighborhoods with lower poverty rates, said Dan Teles, researcher at the Urban Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.

While Section 8 is a common source of income, it’s not the only payment that landlords can refuse. Veteran’s benefits, social security, rent assistance from private organizations, self-employment and child support are all sources of income that property owners can deny.

Nebraska has no laws prohibiting discrimination against any source of income, according to the Poverty and Race Research Action Council.

Laws elsewhere vary in scope. Some require landlords to accept all lawful forms of income, while others focus on government programs, Teles said.

Lincoln’s city council could specify which forms of income would be protected. In Madison, Wisconsin, the law covers “moneys received from public assistance, pension, and Supplemental Security Income.”

It’s not Section 8, but those other private rental assistance programs – often offered by Lincoln churches and refugee support organizations – that are one sticking point for Sändra Washington, a Democrat and the city council’s chairwoman.

Lincoln prides itself on being a designated Welcoming City, ranked high for immigrant and refugee resettlement, she said. Those local voucher programs are a big reason why. But she worries the city could be held liable for damages if the council requires landlords to accept those tenants.

Washington wants to hear from the other stakeholders, especially property owners who oppose an ordinance, before the council considers a public hearing.

This summer, the council will be occupied with the city’s budget, Washington said.

“I’m not putting this on the back burner, but right now, it is not my focus,” Washington said. “And I think that’s as honest as I can be.”

Councilmember Tom Duden, a Republican from Lincoln’s southeast district, said in a statement that no “evidence of discrimination” was shared with the petition or in meetings with the organizations. Discrimination against protected characteristics is already covered under the Fair Housing Act, he said.

“A balance between fairness toward applicants and those in need of housing with the rights of … landlords has to be weighed … There’s also a need to protect an owner’s investment and that seems to be ignored, “Duden said. “I simply do not have any evidence that this is a problem in Lincoln.”

Last year, 37% of Section 8 vouchers, 232 out of 626 awarded in Lincoln, expired before the person found housing, LHA records show.

Lincoln generally lacks housing stock for the lowest income levels, and the housing that is available is often in poor condition, said Lizzie Turner, a community organizer with Nebraska Appleseed and Civic Nebraska’s Collective Impact Lincoln partnership. Vouchers are meant to “bridge the gap” to help low income families access better quality housing.

There are success stories, Turner said. Many people use their vouchers and have a safe place to call home for the first time in a long time. She believes a city ordinance would protect Section 8 voucher users and produce more success stories.

Barriers to Home

Tut Kailech’s family, refugees from South Sudan, landed in Lincoln in 2005 and lived in cramped public housing for years until they secured a Section 8 voucher.

As a high schooler, Kailech had to translate RentWise, a tenant education program, for his parents, struggling through words and phrases even he didn’t know. He called property management companies but faced constant rejection. He was confused, as were his parents – they had believed the voucher meant security. The family eventually found housing, barely beating the deadline before their voucher expired.

“Why are people saying no to us when we’re getting help from the government, and you can depend on the government to give us our portion of the rent that we couldn’t cover?” Kailech said. “It was very boggling to an immigrant refugee mind how somebody can just literally say no because of this voucher program that we got from a local government.”

Kailech now works as a community builder with NeighborWorks Lincoln, an affordable housing nonprofit, and frequently hears about the same struggles he experienced. Some landlords see Section 8 holders as impoverished, lazy and capitalizing on a broken welfare system, Kailech said.

And rejecting housing vouchers is sometimes a way for property owners to covertly discriminate against other protected factors, like race, religion and immigration status, Turner said. Tenants with disabilities find it difficult to find housing, because Lincoln is lacking in accessible units and landlords are able to deny disability assistance as a form of income.

When voucher holders do find a place to rent, Turner said, it often doesn’t meet their needs for family size, public transportation options, accessibility or cultural resources.

Kailech’s big family ended up in a too-small apartment because it was their only option before the voucher expired. Ramirez eventually had to move to north Lincoln, far from her children’s school, where she now struggles to find them rides.

Another Section 8 voucher holder made more than 200 calls before finding a place to rent, Turner said. Often, those who find housing only do so because of one person’s good will, she said.

“Hopefully we can move forward in a way that is more efficient so we can value people’s time, and folks don’t have to be in such dire straits before they can find a place to call home,” Turner said.

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This story was originally published by Flatwater Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.