Look on rental ads on Craigslist and you'll see the same words over and over: "No Section 8."
Many landlords refuse to accept Section 8 housing vouchers provided by the federal government to help those with a very low income pay for a place to live.
But landlords in Redmond will no longer be among them, thanks to an ordinance approved Feb. 7 by City Council that makes it illegal to discriminate against someone based on where they get the money to pay their rent.
Redmond joins 13 other states and 38 other local jurisdictions that have passed laws prohibiting source of income discrimination. There are similar protections in Seattle, Bellevue and unincorporated King County.
The laws are designed to ensure vulnerable populations, such as veterans, families fleeing domestic violence, children, seniors and people with disabilities, have an equal chance of renting a home.
Archstone Properties had informed 35 tenants at its Redmond property that they would not renew their leases, and starting in June 2011 organizers from the Tenants Union got involved to help them.
Archstone had made the decision at the national level, according to Tenants Union Deputy Director Emil Paddison. The nonprofit housing advocacy group was among several local organizations, including YWCA and ARCH (A Regional Coalition for Housing) that worked together to help the tenants.
Redmond civic leaders were moved by the tenants' testimony, and passed the ordinance unanimously. Councilmember Kimberly Allen said many low-income renters have endured years on the waiting list for their voucher, only to be rejected by a landlord.
"I just don't think that's the kind of community we want to be," Allen said.
That's exactly the kind of community in which many low-income people live. Because landlords refuse them so frequently, about half of the Section 8 vouchers issued in Washington state never end up getting used, housing advocates say.
Some states have stepped in to prevent this. Across the nation, 13 states have enacted legislation that provides protection against source of income discrimination.
The Tenants Union spent three years trying to get the Washington State Legislature to take up the issue, and in 2009 abandoned the campaign, Paddison said. Now, she hopes other cities -- particularly in South King County, which has a high proportion of low-income renters -- will follow Redmond's lead.