Of the nearly 160,000 veterans in San Antonio — which touts itself as “Military City, USA” — about 680 receive rental subsidies, according to city officials. Most landlords here, however, are not required to accept vouchers.
A proposal from a local housing advocacy nonprofit would change that for veterans, but several landlords and the San Antonio Apartment Association told a City Council committee this week that the voucher process is too expensive and time-consuming to require all landlords to accept them.
State law prohibits cities from issuing blanket source of income protections but allows exceptions for city-funded properties — which San Antonio adopted in 2021 — and for veterans in all properties within city limits.
Rich Acosta, founder of the nonprofit My City Is My Home, sent a policy proposal to City Council members last year that would protect veterans from income discrimination.
“This would allow landlords to still do the background check process and everything, but they couldn’t deny the housing just because the veteran’s using a [housing] voucher,” said Acosta, whose nonprofit provides free and low-cost property tax protest services. As proposed, violators would be fined $500.
In March, Forth Worth approved an ordinance that made income discrimination of veteran renters a Class C misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine of up to $500.
Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4), who chairs the Planning and Community Development Committee, brought the proposal to the committee on Thursday. Rocha Garcia directed the city’s Housing Commission and housing department to convene stakeholder discussions about income discrimination protection for veterans with local landlords, housing authorities and veteran groups.
The councilwoman said she wants “as many people as possible involved at the table.”
Several landlords at the meeting, including some veterans, spoke out against implementing a policy that would force them to accept vouchers.
“That’s a solution in search of a problem,” said Michael Rust, general operations manager for Highland Commercial Properties, which he said houses 1,600 low-income San Antonians in unsubsidized, single-family homes and apartments. “The use of the word discrimination tries to liken not participating in a federal program to discrimination against people based on their immutable characteristics. And that’s just not what this is. … I am a veteran. I’m definitely not discriminating against veterans.”
Highland used to accept housing vouchers but stopped two years ago, Rust said. Opportunity Home, the local housing authority, is “not a reliable partner in my business” because the payment and inspection process is “unpredictable and inconsistent.”
On average, it takes about 12 days for a vouchered tenant to move into a unit once the federally required paperwork and inspection are completed, according to a statement provided by Opportunity Home. Inspectors reach out to landlords within two days to schedule an inspection, and if the apartment or home doesn’t meet minimum standards, they’re given up to 21 days to fix the issues.
“To help landlords and our staff work as quickly as possible, video resources have been made available to landlords on the [Request for Tenancy Approval] paperwork and the inspection,” the statement reads.
The city will explore incentive programs, including relaunching a program that offered $500 to landlords who accept vouchers, said Veronica Gonzalez, assistant director of the city’s Neighborhood and Housing Services Department. Opportunity Home “has worked hard to ensure positive experiences for voucher holders and people who rent them. This includes streamlining the Opportunity Home inspection process to be complete within three days.”
Ryan Baldwin, board president of the San Antonio Apartment Association, said the Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly referred to as Section 8, and the Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing program are “meant to be voluntary.”
“According to data from Opportunity Home, a majority of housing vouchers for veterans are being utilized and are leased up. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the current support systems in place,” Baldwin said, reading from a statement from the association’s members. “[We ask that] before this committee takes any action that data be carefully evaluated to determine if potential policy change to the voucher program can remove barriers for housing providers instead of adding to them.”
Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Juan Ayala, director of the city’s Military and Veteran Affairs Department, said he was unaware of veterans having trouble finding housing with vouchers.
“I’m looking forward to taking a look at some of the [process] delays,” Ayala told the committee, committing to work with city staff on the issue.
In 2016, San Antonio “effectively” ended veteran homelessness, meaning every veteran in the city had access to permanent housing and a support system to prevent homelessness. Last year, there were 33 unsheltered veterans, matching the 33 counted in 2022, the lowest numbers since 2016, according to the annual homelessness snapshot. There were 211 veterans staying in shelters.
An income discrimination ban for veterans would open up more opportunities for veterans to find housing near the services they need, such as the North Side, where fewer landlords accept vouchers but where a concentration of medical services are located, Acosta said.
“Veterans can’t live next to their medical place because of the discrimination that has been allowed in San Antonio,” he said. “There’s about 2,000 rentals on the market and less than 7% of them accept vouchers.”
In 2017, the Inclusive Communities Project of Dallas filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s ban on blanket source of income protections. A U.S. district judge dismissed the case in 2018.
The proposed ordinance in San Antonio “will help expand housing options for low-income veterans [and] also set an important precedent in our state towards removing the unjust barriers that voucher holders face in their efforts to secure safe and decent housing,” said Erin Hahn, a research analyst with housing advocacy nonprofit Texas Housers.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct information about the availability of incentives for landlords.
