The state of Iowa's Republican leadership preempted local laws that prevent landlords from rejecting housing vouchers as rent payment.
"Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) on Friday signed into law a new bill condemned by housing advocates and city officials that would allow landlords to turn away tenants who receive Section 8 vouchers to help them pay rent," reports Celine Castronuovo.
"The bill, which passed in both chambers of the Republican-controlled Iowa General Assembly in March, prohibits counties from adopting laws that would prohibit a landlord 'from refusing to lease or rent out a dwelling unit to a person because of the person’s use of a federal housing voucher issued by the United States department of housing and urban development.'"
Iowa's new law preempts laws in three Iowa cities: Des Moines, Iowa City, and Marion. Other states and cities have approved source of income discrimination laws in recent years as a form of tenant protection in a tight housing market with prices increasingly out of the reach of families and individuals.
A 2018 report by the Urban Institute quantified the prevalence of source of income discrimination in cities around the country.
The Iowa law attracted the attention of housing officials in the Biden administration. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge said the federal government would sue Iowa in opposition to the law during in an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid in March.
FULL STORY: Iowa governor signs law allowing landlords to refuse Section 8 vouchers
Missouri Governor Reverses Anti-Discrimination Housing Policies
A new state law bars cities from prohibiting source-of-income discrimination against tenants using Section 8 housing vouchers.
Missouri Law Would Ban Protections for Housing Voucher Users
A state law seeks to overturn source-of-income discrimination bans passed by several Missouri cities.
Eight Ohio Towns Ban Source of Income Discrimination in Housing
The group doesn’t include Cleveland, where landlords can explicitly exclude housing voucher recipients from rental properties.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
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Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
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Nashville Planning Department
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University of Cincinnati Online
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The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association