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...
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