2018 Virginia General Assembly
Legislative Highlights
February 14, 2018
All proposed bills that would have impacted the housing rights for people with disabilities are dead as of crossover, end of day yesterday.
SB 909 (McClellan) would have prohibited discrimination in housing based on an applicant’s “source of income,” defining source of income as any external lawful financial assistance, whether governmental or not. While this bill is important to people with disabilities and their ability to rent in the community using governmental assistance like social security, the bill faced opposition. Senator McClellan asked the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology to carry the bill over until 2019.
HB 1408 (Bourne) would have prohibited discrimination in housing based on an applicant’s source of income, companion bill to SB 909. This bill was assigned to House General Laws, but was never heard and so died as of crossover.
HB 178 (Bell, Richard) would allow landlords to refuse to rent to someone whose source of income is an entity other than the lessee, such as a government voucher or other government payment program. The bill is the opposite of HB 1408 above. The bill was assigned to House General Laws, but was never heard and so died as of crossover.
We had heard that there would be a bill to limit the development and locations of group homes in localities, but the bill never materialized.
The mission of the disAbility Law Center of Virginia is to advance independence, choice and self-determination; protect legal, human and civil rights; and eliminate abuse, neglect and discrimination of people with disabilities through zealous and uncompromising legal advocacy and representation. We monitor developments in the legislature that may be of interest to people with disabilities. Please contact us at info@dlcv.org or by calling 1-800-552-3962 or 804-225-2042 if you know of any legislation or budget issues that you think we should be following.