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10400 Detrick Avenue |
Md. High Court Upholds Fair-Housing Law in Voucher CasesBy Mary Otto Maryland's highest court upheld laws in Howard and Montgomery counties designed to prevent landlords from discriminating against tenants who use federal vouchers to help pay their rent. For years, housing advocates have viewed the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8, as an important tool in helping working low-income families rent housing at affordable rates. In the Maryland Court of Appeals case, a Montgomery County landlord argued that such a county law could not force him to participate in the federal housing assistance program by renting to a voucher holder. In a unanimous decision Friday, the seven-judge panel found the county law "does preclude landlords . . . from refusing to rent apartments to otherwise qualified tenants solely because they propose to use the Federal HCVP vouchers in part payment of the rent." Officials in both counties, where modest two-bedroom apartments can rent for more than $1,000 a month, said the ruling affirms their efforts to provide affordable housing. "In communities like Howard and Montgomery counties, where access to affordable housing is especially challenging, this is particularly valuable," Howard County spokesman Kevin J. Enright said. D. Scott Minton, executive director of the Housing Opportunities Commission, Montgomery's public housing agency, said: "It is important that our voucher holders are confident that when they apply to rent an apartment they are being judged on their credit and rental history. This is an important ruling." Under the program, qualifying renters can use the voucher to help shop for a moderately priced apartment in the community where they want to live. They pay 30 percent of their income toward the rent, and the voucher covers the rest. The program, administered by local public housing agencies, is funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Howard has 1,100 housing vouchers in use and 1,900 families on a waiting list. Montgomery has 5,400 vouchers in use and 15,600 families on the waiting list. The Maryland ruling echoed decisions upholding the validity of similar fair-housing laws in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, said Edward B. Lattner of the Montgomery County attorney's office. Jay Holland, an attorney for the landlord, Glenmont Hills Associates, decried the decision. He said participation in the voucher program can be "very burdensome," in part because landlords must submit their properties and financial records to federal oversight. "This is about whether a property owner who has to rent out units can be forced to enter into . . . a contract with the federal government," Holland said. The debate over Montgomery County's law began in 2002 after a renter who tried to use a voucher was turned away from the landlord's Silver Spring complex. The renter, thinking she was the victim of discrimination, complained to the county's Human Rights Commission, which found that the property, Privacy World Garden Apartments, had violated the county's 1991 law. A county circuit judge reversed the decision, saying he found no evidence of discrimination. Montgomery County appealed the ruling. |
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©2007 Housing Opportunities Commission, All Rights Reserved. Information current as of 4/21/2008. |
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