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In April, Americans across the country observed Fair Housing Month. This year, we celebrate the 56th anniversary of the passage of the federal Fair Housing Act—the landmark civil rights legislation that was signed into law on April 11, 1968, making it unlawful to discriminate in housing transactions based on certain specifications.
The Fair Housing Act made significant strides toward rooting out long-standing discriminatory housing policies and practices. But some discrimination is still perfectly lawful.
For example, in Indiana and many other states, you can still be discriminated against when trying to secure housing because of where your income comes from. Are you a veteran who earned your benefits? A senior citizen living on Social Security, or a family of small means making use of a Housing Choice voucher? If so, you can be turned away from rental housing based on that reason alone.
You might be thinking, “Surely that doesn’t happen very often in Indiana. Who would discriminate against, for example, a veteran?”
And yet, in 2023, WalletHub ranked Indiana 34th out of all 50 states in a quality-of-life assessment for military retirees. Part of this low ranking had to do with the state’s share of homeless veterans who were unable to secure housing. This is corroborated by the organization Helping Veterans and Families of Indiana, which shared in February that its caseworkers are reporting instances of landlords refusing to accept rental assistance vouchers as a form of payment from veterans.
It doesn’t have to be this way, though.
In the 2024 legislative session of the Indiana General Assembly, Rep. Renee Pack, D-Indianapolis, introduced HouseBill 1087, “Prohibited Discrimination in Housing,” which would have expanded the Indiana fair housing statute to prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person’s: (1) source of income; (2) military active-duty status; or (3) veteran status. The bill was sent to the Indiana House of Representatives Committee on Financial Institutions, where it was never granted a hearing.
In our nation’s capital, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, and U.S. Rep. Scott Peters, D-California, introduced the federal Fair Housing Improvement Act (S.1267 and H.R. 2846, respectively) in 2023 to do essentially the same thing but for every state in the union. Disappointingly, both bills have exactly zero co-sponsors from Indiana’s federal congressional delegation. The cause of the holdup is unclear, but what we do know is that time is of the essence.
In March, Prosperity Indiana released a report, in partnership with the National Low Income Housing Coalition, revealing that there are just 34 affordable and available rental units for every 100 extremely low-income renters in Indiana, of which 28% are seniors and 22% are disabled. This statistic has worsened in the last year, having been 39 instead of 34 in 2023. And with homelessness on the rise, we know where our current path of descent leads.
Will new fair housing legislation alone solve Indiana’s affordable housing crisis? No. However, it would be an impactful step in the right direction and a worthwhile endeavor.•
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Crumley is policy manager for Prosperity Indiana.
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