Section 8 DESTROYED in Iowa!!! (& What to Do if You Need Low Income Housing)

Section 8 Discrimination has been legalized in Iowa! Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a new law that gives landlords the right to refuse to rent to low income households that use Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. In this video, we’re going to break down what that new law means for low income people in Iowa, and give you a few tips on low income housing in general.

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00:00 Intro
00:27 Low Income Housing Shortage
00:42 New Law in Iowa
01:28 Impact on Low Income Renters
02:20 Who Will Be Affected
02:37 The Landlord Groups Responsible
02:55 Why Landlords Hate Section 8
03:04 HUD Response to Iowa’s New Law
03:25 What to Do If You Need Low Income Housing

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Low Income Relief is a free information service that connects low income people across America with benefits, programs and resources in their local communities. Basically, we help millions of people save money and get free stuff every year!

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Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a new law that gives landlords the right to refuse to rent to low income households that use Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. In this video, we’re going to break down what that new law means for low income people in Iowa, and give you a few tips on low income housing in general.

I’m Nicole from Low Income Relief, where we help millions of people save money and get free stuff.

Low income housing is getting harder and harder to find. Rent prices are soaring, inventory is low, and it’s just all-around difficult for low income people to find safe and stable housing.

So what should you do?

Avoid Iowa, apparently.

Governor Reynolds signed a new law that makes it even more difficult for low income people to find housing. Specifically, the law says that landlords must not be forbidden “from refusing to lease or rent out a dwelling unit to a person because of the person’s use of a federal housing voucher issued by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.”

In other words, the law says landlords must be allowed to say no to people just because they use housing vouchers.

There are three cities in Iowa that have rules about Section 8 renters. These rules ensure that landlords treat Section 8 renters fairly. The three cities with renter protection are Des Moines, Iowa City and Marion.

Unfortunately, those laws won’t last much longer.

Effective immediately, no cities or counties in Iowa can create laws that would force landlords to accept Section 8. However, in an apparent attempt at compromise, it was decided that those three cities could keep their tenant protections in place until January 1st, 2023.

After that time, all city and county level protections will disappear. All landlords in Iowa will be allowed to refuse to rent to low income people, just because they have Section 8 Housing Vouchers. It is expected that many people who are currently renting with Section 8 will not be able to renew their leases and will have to leave their homes, as well.

This is a disaster for the 20,000 low income renters in Iowa who rely on these federal vouchers. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, these households earn an average of $12,577 per year and rely on these vouchers to maintain their housing. Many of these households are people of color and residents with disabilities.

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