Onward.
On May 6, Lincoln stood up for dignity, opportunity, and the simple idea that no one should be denied safe, affordable housing based on how they pay their rent. By passing the Fair Housing ordinance, our city’s voters were resoundingly clear: Everyone deserves a fair chance at a safe, stable place to live.
If you have experienced source-of-income discrimination in housing, contact the
Lincoln Commission on Human Rights (LCHR).
›› Call LCHR at 402-441-7624 or complete a Human Rights Intake Questionnaire to provide your contact information and a general picture of the discrimination you experienced.
›› Once you have contacted LCHR, wait for them to reach out.
›› A LCHR Civil Rights Investigator will contact you and help determine if your charge falls within their jurisdiction, answer any questions you may have, and
file an official complaint if you choose.
* * *
Source-of-income protections work for everyone. While Lincoln faces an affordable housing crisis, source-of-income discrimination has been banned in 22 states and 129 cities and towns in the United States. In those cities and states, the voucher failure rate has been halved.
›› Source-of-income discrimination is the refusal to rent because of a prospective tenant’s lawful source of income. It keeps Lincoln renters from the housing they need, resulting in housing instability, unaffordable, unsafe or inaccessible housing, or homelessness.
›› In Lincoln, housing is unaffordable for 44% of renters at all income levels, and 11,280 households are extremely cost-burdened by rent. With so little left after housing costs, many sacrifice necessities like food and healthcare to make ends meet.
›› Assistance programs like Section 8 housing vouchers, social security, disability, and veterans benefits are legitimate forms of income and have been proven to reliably fill this gap. But they couldn’t help when landlords refused to rent to Lincolnites using them.
›› Before the ordinance, nearly 1 in 3 voucher recipients in Lincoln returned their voucher because they were unable to find a landlord who will accept it. Lincolnites resoundingly voted to ban this discriminatory practice by a 2-to-1 margin.
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