For families trying to find affordable housing, options can be scarce. But recently enacted policies may offer relief in the St. Louis region.
By a 4 to 3 vote, the St. Louis County Council approved legislation to create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund with proceeds from the sale of medical marijuana.
The county executive voted in favor of the measure and is expected to sign it.
The fund would prioritize the needs of single-parent families with children, households earning less than $35,000, older adults, and households experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, especially households with children.
鈥淪table homes are a necessary component of healthy communities. This is an issue that affects all of us, whether or not we are directly experiencing a housing crisis,鈥� said Molly Metzger, faculty director of Inclusive Housing with the Center for Social Development in the Brown School at Washington University.
A local expert on affordable housing and co-editor of “,” Metzger testified on the trust fund bill, citing her showing housing instability鈥檚 effects on children.
In many schools serving low-income families, “more than half the kids are entering or leaving the school in the middle of the school year,” she stated. “Housing transitions coupled with school transitions are a major challenge for everyone involved. Students in these circumstances aren鈥檛 fully able to develop relationships with their teachers and meet their full potential.”
Sponsored by Councilwoman Lisa Clancy and Councilwoman Rochelle Walton Gray, the ordinance draws upon from the county鈥檚 Affordable Housing Trust Fund Task Force, which released its recommendations in April.
The City of St. Louis created such a fund in 2000. Testifying before the County Council, Gary Newcomer said, “We鈥檝e looked at the trust find in the City of St. Louis and found that it raised $17 for every $1 invested, which is a pretty good return.” Newcomer is director of operations with the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis.
Passage of the county bill marks another step in a trend across the St. Louis region.
In August, the City of Clayton amended its Human Rights Code to add 鈥渟ource of income鈥� to 鈥渞ace, color, religion,鈥� and the other groupings in the city鈥檚 list of protected classes. The amendments make it illegal to discriminate in the terms of a sale or rental because of income source, to mischaracterize the availability of housing on that basis and to advertise a preference because of a potential occupant鈥檚 source of income.
The City of Webster Groves followed suit in October. Like those in Clayton, the measures in Webster Groves make it illegal to refuse to sell or rent housing because of an individual鈥檚 source of income. Both municipalities criminalized the use of source-of-income information for . Violating the Webster Groves ordinance could cost landlords their operating licenses. In Clayton, violators face a $500 fine.
In St. Louis County, affordable housing advocates cheered the April 2019 introduction of a similar source-of-income proposal, which built upon a recommendation in the Ferguson Commission鈥檚 . The sponsor, Councilwoman Clancy, withdrew the bill in August, acknowledging opposition and the need to build a countywide consensus.
鈥淩esearch shows that people who are aware of the history of structural racism in housing are more likely to support these sorts of measures, so education is a critical piece of the puzzle,鈥� said Metzger, who testified in support of the withdrawn bill and advised policymakers in the development of the measure enacted by Webster Groves.
So-called source-of-income laws have been around since at least the early 1970s but did not come to Missouri until 2003, when the City of St. Louis passed its own . In 2015, the city added language to specifically protect people with Section 8 and forms of other rental assistance.
Housing advocates will be watching efforts to implement the region鈥檚 new policies. The city鈥檚 experience with the policy suggests that awareness and enforcement are key.
Despite explicit prohibitions against rental advertising with messages like 鈥淣o Section 8,鈥� a聽2019 report聽by the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council found that such practices continue. The organization discussed the county source-of-income measure at its聽2019 meeting, which CSD sponsored and co-organized.聽
Despite the St. Louis region鈥檚 reputation for high levels of segregation, the new measures suggest momentum in the region鈥檚 struggle for inclusive housing and offer hope to families in search of accommodation.