The Baltimore County Council, which represents the suburbs to the north, east and west of Baltimore city, rejected a bill Monday that would have made it illegal for landlords to discriminate against prospective renters using housing vouchers, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Members voted 6 to 1 against the bill, which the council was required to consider as part of a settlement of a housing discrimination complaint negotiated between the county and Department of Housing and Urban Development this March. That settlement requires the county to spend $30 million over the next 10 years to develop 1,000 units of affordable housing in high-opportunity areas, using a mixture of new and existing construction.
The housing voucher discrimination bill would have prevented landlords from rejecting tenants based on their source of income, with the goal of protecting renters who rely on Section 8 vouchers. Currently, the majority of the county’s voucher holders are concentrated on the east and west sides. Council members who voted against it told the Sun they had not had sufficient input into its drafting, and didn’t think it would work as intended if passed. “While I agree with the aims of this legislation, I cannot in good conscience vote for a flawed bill created by a process in which I played no part,” said Council Chairwoman Vicki Almond, a Democrat.
Councilwoman Cathy Bevins, also a Democrat, said she rejected the bill because half of the county’s 6,100 voucher holders are already concentrated on the east side, which she represents. Unless she could be guaranteed the bill wouldn’t encourage more voucher holders to move into her district, she said she couldn’t support it. Councilman David Marks, a Republican, said the county should work to eliminate poverty through jobs training, education and transportation, not to deconcentrate it.
Councilman Julian Jones, who cast the sole vote in favor, said, “This bill has been and continues to be about a very simple point: prejudice and discrimination.”
Debate around the bill has raged in the county since it was introduced last month. Hundreds of residents attended public hearings on the issue, with religious groups and organizations supporting the poor and homeless in favor, and groups representing landlords, property managers and real estate agents opposed.
Per the terms of the housing discrimination settlement, the county is required to take up the bill again after the next county elections in 2018.
Jen Kinney is a freelance writer and documentary photographer. Her work has also appeared in Philadelphia Magazine, High Country News online, and the Anchorage Press. She is currently a student of radio production at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies. See her work at jakinney.com.
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