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Income-based housing protections bill moves onto Senate
House Bill 339 would prevent housing discrimination based on sources of income, like housing vouchers. Pictured is PAH! Hiland Plaza, an affordable housing apartment complex in Albuquerque along Central Avenue.
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An anti-discrimination housing bill is heading to the Senate.
House Bill 339 passed the House floor by a vote of 42-24 on Saturday.
The legislation would amend the Human Rights Act to label housing discrimination based on a source of income an illegal practice. The legislation specifically adds protections for Social Security benefits; pension, annuity, alimony or child support; and any form of assistance from local, state or federal governments or nonprofits, such as housing vouchers.
Bill sponsor Rep. Angelica Rubio, D-Las Cruces, said she introduced the legislation because landlords are denying housing requests based on a potential tenant’s source of income.
“You can still do credit reports, you can still check their history, you can still do all of the things that you’re doing already for tenants when you’re looking for tenants,” Rubio said in response to a question on the floor. “But you just cannot deny them just because of their source of income.”
If anyone believes they’ve been discriminated against for housing based on source of income, they could report it to the New Mexico Department of Justice along with a burden of proof — something like a letter from a landlord listing a denial reason as not accepting Social Security, Rubio explained.
She also said this effort could help to preemptively prevent homelessness.
Rep. Mark Duncan, R-Kirtland, voiced concerns about landlords violating this bill if they don’t fix up a housing property to meet low-income loan standards, and therefore don’t accept housing applications from people with low-income loans or vouchers.
To address this, he successfully amended the bill to ensure it doesn’t require anyone to repair or improve a property to meet housing standards set by optional assistance programs.
Duncan still voted against the bill, along with other Republicans.
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“There’s a reason why they say you should make three times the amount (of rent),” said Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, who said this would back landlords into a corner of human rights’ violations and lawsuits.
