From the Washtenaw Housing Alliance:
The Michigan Senate Housing and Human Services Committee held its first hearing on 3 source of income (SOI) nondiscrimination bills on May 16th. This is encouraging news! The WHA, Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness (MCAH), Coalition for Expanding Housing Access (CEHA), and many other partners across the state have been advocating for a committee hearing since the bills were introduced earlier this year.
Senate bills 205, 206, and 207 would amend the Landlord Tenant Act and the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act to prohibit housing discrimination on the basis of a legal source of income (i.e. housing choice vouchers and other non-wage sources of income). Under current state law, there is no clear prohibition against a landlord refusing to accept Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs), veterans’ benefits, alimony, MDHHS cash assistance, SSI/SSDI as part of a person’s legal total combined income. These sources of income are many times what tenants, who earn low to no income, need when applying to rent a house or apartment in the neighborhood or community of their choice.
Read more on WHA’s website.