City of Pittsburgh - File #: 2015-2062

• File #: 2015-2062
• Version: 1
• Type: Ordinance
• Status: Passed Finally
• File created: 9/28/2015
• In control: Committee on Human Resources
• On agenda: 9/29/2015
• Final action: 12/15/2015
• Enactment date: 12/15/2015
• Enactment #: 59
• Effective date: 12/18/2015
• Title: Ordinance supplementing the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title Six: Conduct, Article Five: Discrimination, Chapter 659: Unlawful Practices, Section 659.03: Unlawful Housing Practices by adding a new protected class, "Source of Income."
• Sponsors: Reverend Ricky V. Burgess, R. Daniel Lavelle
• Indexes: PGH. CODE ORDINANCES TITLE 06 - CONDUCT

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
12/18/2015	1	Mayor	Signed by the Mayor
12/15/2015	1	City Council	Passed Finally	Pass
12/9/2015	1	Standing Committee	Affirmatively Recommended	Pass
12/9/2015	1		Affirmatively Recommended
11/19/2015	1	Committee on Hearings	Post Agenda Held
11/19/2015	1	Committee on Hearings	Public Hearing Held
10/7/2015	1	Standing Committee	Held for Cablecast Post Agenda	Pass
10/7/2015	1	Standing Committee	Held for Cablecast Public Hearing	Pass
9/29/2015	1	City Council	Read and referred

Title

Ordinance supplementing the Pittsburgh Code of Ordinances, Title Six: Conduct, Article Five: Discrimination, Chapter 659: Unlawful Practices, Section 659.03: Unlawful Housing Practices by adding a new protected class, "Source of Income."

Body
WHEREAS, A City For All Agenda strives to make Pittsburgh a livable and affordable city for all residents; and

WHEREAS, A City For All Agenda includes affordable housing for all Pittsburgh families; and

WHEREAS, in many housing markets, one of the key ways housing is provided to low-income tenants living on Social Security, disability retirement, income assistance, or other similar forms of income is through a housing subsidy, the most well-known of which is the Housing Choice Voucher Program (also referred to as the "Section 8" voucher program); and,

WHEREAS, voucher holders often face blatant discrimination when searching for housing. According to the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, 41% of low-income people who were issued vouchers had to return them unused, in part due to landlords unwilling to accept them; and.

WHEREAS, discrimination against voucher holders, in many cases, is a pretext for illegal discrimination based on race, national origin and familial status; and,

WHEREAS, individuals seeking to use housing choice vouchers are often limited to housing in low income neighborhoods, which contributes to the clustering of housing choice tenants that violates the program's goal of providing economically mixed housing, with an analysis of data from the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh revealing most housing choice units in Pittsburgh located in high-poverty, majority-minority neighborhoods; and,

WHEREAS, the City's Fair Housing law makes it illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, place of birth, sex, sexual orientation, familial status, handicap or disability or use of support animals because of the handicap or disabili...