Every day, Karen Schroeder receives calls from mothers trying to get their children into Syracuse neighborhoods with better schools.

But Schroeder, the assistant director of CNY Fair Housing — a nonprofit that helps people find affordable housing — said there is almost nothing she can do about relocating students as their mothers use the Housing Choice Voucher program, commonly known as Section 8.

“They’ve got 90 days and they can’t find a place to live because landlords can advertise they don’t take Section 8 vouchers,” Schroeder said. “Kids are being pulled from school and living in substandard housing and that places a hardship on the family.”

In order to give people more opportunities to find quality housing by using public assistance and housing voucher programs, Common Councilor Jean Kessner has proposed an amendment to local Syracuse law that would ban landlords from discriminating against potential tenants based on source of income.

Kessner said the amendment has been on the agenda for about three months, but she believes next Monday, there will finally be a vote.

In the city of Syracuse, it is currently legal for landlords to advertise they do not accept Section 8 vouchers or public assistance money. In a 2014 survey conducted over a one-week period, CNY Fair Housing found out of 712 advertisements for housing, only 25 ads said they would accept Section 8 or public assistance. Ninety-four ads specifically said they would not accept either source of income.

Syracuse Housing Authority is the local entity that grants Section 8 vouchers. David Paccone, the organization’s assistant executive director, said the voucher program is meant to give people with low incomes increased mobility and opportunity.

“Much like there are scholarship programs which give various students the ability to go to schools which they otherwise couldn’t afford,” Paccone said. “Section 8 grants people opportunity. That’s what it should be about.”

But a study by CNY Fair Housing found 66 percent of households receiving housing vouchers in Syracuse live in low opportunity neighborhoods and 68 percent live in neighborhoods with low educational outcomes. Social service providers identified discrimination against Section 8 and public assistance recipients as the No. 1 barrier to finding housing for their clients.

Kessner said her goal in passing the amendment is to give low income families greater opportunity in the city of Syracuse.

“We have sections of this city that are the most concentrated in poverty in the country,” Kessner said. “This law is necessary because there’s a grievous wrong being done. I’m trying to do the right thing to get people into housing.”

Schroeder said lack of opportunity and upward mobility in Syracuse are issues that could be helped by passing this non-discrimination law. She recommends the city put forward something in the legislation to protect against discrimination based on source of income.

There is opposition to the law from both some city landlords and her fellow councilors, Kessner notes.

“I have had very angry landlords screaming at me,” Kessner said. “But I don’t think they really get it.”

Landlords have complained to her that they have dealt with Section 8 holders who were very bad tenants, but she clarified that this law does not mean landlords would be forced to accept bad tenants. Rather, landlords would be asked to be very thorough with their background checks and make logical decisions.

And as far as other councilors are concerned, Councilor Chad Ryan made the argument that in order for the law to be effective, it needs to be statewide.

“I think some of my fellow councilors have a good point, this legislation should be statewide,” Kessner said. “But it has to start with the city because that’s where everything starts. Actually, I’ve got one year left on the council and I hope to be able to get it through the state by then.”

Published on October 19, 2016 at 12:26 am

Contact Aline: amarti22@syr.edu