Why are so many Bay Area landlords violating this new housing law?

Thanks to a new state law, it’s now illegal for landlords to turn low-income tenants away just because they use Section 8 or other government vouchers to subsidize their rent. So why are so many landlords doing it anyway?

Online searches conducted this week revealed hundreds of postings, from Berkeley to Sunnyvale, advertising apartments, condos and single-family homes for rent that explicitly list “No Section 8” as a requirement for prospective renters.

Those postings run afoul of Senate Bill 329, which went into effect Jan. 1. A Bay Area-wide Craiglist search found 329 postings in violation. A Trulia search found 21 in San Jose alone, and another 12 in Oakland.

Experts say it’s likely many landlords, especially those with just a few properties, still don’t know about the new law. But the seeming widespread disregard for the measure raises a crucial question as Californians begin testing new tenant protections passed last year: How effectively can these laws be enforced?

“There may be a lot of smaller landlords who are not aware of the new laws and are continuing their ‘business as usual approach,’” said David Garcia, policy director for the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

The California Apartment Association is attempting to educate landlords about the new Section 8 rule, as well as a state-wide rent cap — Assembly Bil 1482 — that also went into effect Jan. 1, said Debra Carlton, senior vice president of public affairs.

The organization has spent months discussing compliance with SB 329 and AB 1482 in its webinars and newsletters, and plans to reach out to individual landlords who have posted advertisements in violation of SB 329.

“We do the best that we can when it comes to outreach,” Carlton said, “but there may be some who don’t pay attention.”

When contacted by this news organization, several landlords who had posted “No Section 8” advertisements said they didn’t know about the new rule, and some later removed references to the vouchers.

Landlord groups opposing SB 329 had complained that accepting Section 8 tenants is a headache because it can require special requirements, such as additional property inspections. But proponents of the law pointed out that reluctance from landlords ends up making it difficult for voucher holders to find housing, and contributes to long Section 8 waitlists.

Both SB 329 and AB 1482 — which caps annual rent increases at 5% plus inflation and generally prohibits landlords from evicting tenants for no reason — lack an enforcement mechanism. While it’s illegal for landlords to say “No Section 8″ in a housing ad, there’s no one policing listings to make sure that they don’t. It’s up to the wronged tenant or applicant to confront the landlord directly, complain to a state or federal agency, or sue the landlord. It’s the same if a landlord raises the rent beyond what AB 1482 allows.

That means the success of both laws depends either on landlords voluntarily complying, or on tenants being well-informed of their rights, Garcia said. With a successful lawsuit, a tenant could score financial compensation and force the landlord to change his or her ways. But litigation is costly and time-consuming, and experts say many wronged tenants likely won’t bother.

SB 329’s author — Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles — said a delay in full compliance is to be expected.

“As (with) any law, I think it takes a minute for people to be informed,” she said.

Mitchell crafted SB 329 as an amendment to the existing Fair Employment and Housing Act, which doesn’t include a policing mechanism.

Mitchell said she hopes landlord associations will step up and educate their members.

As part of its effort to do just that, the California Apartment Association is contacting websites like Craigslist, Trulia and Apartments.com directly, asking them to post a notice warning landlords about the prohibition on “No Section 8” listings. And they’re asking those websites to block listings that discriminate against housing voucher holders.

Some platforms, including Craigslist, already allow users to flag listings that violate fair housing laws, and warn that such postings may be blocked.

Despite those efforts, some tenant lawyers expect a flood of litigation around both SB 329 and AB 1482 to kickoff 2020.

“I think all the gray areas of both laws are going to shake out through tenants litigating to enforce their rights,” said Shirley Gibson of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County. “We’re going to be the test-drivers.”

Despite the enforcement issues around SB 329, Gibson said the law will be a boon for Section 8 voucher holders.

“It helps turn (around) the narrative on Section 8 tenancies,” she said. “The public perception of: ‘If you rent to a Section 8 tenant, they’re going to destroy your unit, they’re going to be the nuisance tenants.’”

Even so, the bill doesn’t address how difficult it is for qualifying low-income residents to obtain a Section 8 voucher. Programs in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland are closed to new applicants, and waitlists are thousands of people long.

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