Naperville code update could prevent housing discrimination

Naperville's fair housing ordinance prohibits discrimination against potential tenants based on income, but that raises a question the city council will consider Tuesday night: What counts as a "legal source of income"?

The city code is silent on the issue, so advocates for an update that could provide clarity say a loophole exists.

People who receive housing vouchers from the federal government through a local agency such as the DuPage Housing Authority sometimes are unfairly turned away by some Naperville landlords who refuse to accept vouchers as income, Kasey Evans of the city's planning services team said in a memo.

Approached last November by homelessness prevention and affordable housing advocates, members of the city's housing advisory commission decided this is unfair. They've voted twice to recommend an update to the city code that would create a definition of "legal source of income" that includes housing vouchers as well as child support, medical assistance from the local, state or federal government and any other funds with which an individual supports himself or herself.

Voucher holders are "very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled," according to the DuPage Housing Authority. Naperville housing commission member Bob Fischer said these are the very people the city's fair housing ordinance aims to protect.

"We are providing almost a de facto way to discriminate against these people by not allowing them to use housing vouchers," Fischer said.

The proposed change to the city code would not require landlords to rent to people using vouchers if the tenants don't meet their other usual screening criteria for factors including credit score, criminal history and references. It would not force landlords to give voucher holders any special consideration.

Two provisions have been added to quell common landlord concerns: that the inspection process takes too long and that it might require costly repairs. Landlords are not required to rent to voucher tenants if the unit fails to meet federal housing quality standards, and they are free to rent to another tenant who can pay in full at any point during a voucher user's application process.

"All we're saying is it's wrong for a landlord to hang up the phone when they hear, 'I'm a federal housing voucher user,'" said Fischer, who is president of the Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation and gained that organization's support for the new definition. "We're not looking to create problems for anybody, but we are looking to level the playing field for voucher holders."

About 500 voucher holders live in Naperville now, said Kenneth Coles, executive director of the DuPage Housing Authority, meaning the city is home to 17 percent of the 2,907 voucher holders countywide. Many of the 1,500 landlords who house voucher tenants in DuPage only have one unit available to rent.

"Voucher holders tend to stay in units longer, so availability is diminished while demand is still high," Coles said. "We're looking to expand the base of landlords to give more choice and opportunity to our voucher holders in Naperville and of course DuPage County overall."

If the city council approves the new explanation of "legal source of income," Naperville could be the first community in DuPage County to include such a definition in its code, Coles said. Of more than 100 communities Evans reviewed, she said only Chicago, Cook County, Maywood, Oak Park and Urbana define acceptable income sources in their codes.