Source of Income Q&A with GDPM

Source of Income

Access to housing affordability and tenant displacement concerns continue to drive policy at the state and local levels. To this end, on March 1, 2023, the City of Dayton passed legislation making "source of income" a protected class under the city's fair housing laws. 

What does this mean and how does this affect Housing Providers in the City of Dayton?

Housing Providers may not communicate a preference for residents with certain income sources or treat prospective residents differently based on their income source. Housing Providers are also prohibited from misrepresenting the availability of housing stock in order to dissuade applications from residents who rely upon a particular income source.

Housing Providers continue to be able to screen prospective residents based on lawful qualification criteria. SOI would make it so a prospective resident with, for example, social security income would have equal opportunity to rent a property and could not be discriminated against based upon their income source. SOI does not require Housing Providers to accept lower rent nor would it require Housing Providers to maintain compliance with state or federal subsidized housing standards.