Court Hands Tenant Victory After 5-Year Section 8 Battle

An Illinois Appellate Court overturned a lower court ruling and ruled in favor of a tenant denied housing when a Chicago landlord refused to accept her Section 8 housing voucher.  The case began in April 1999, when the landlord refused to rent an apartment to the tenant  because her application listed her Section 8 housing voucher as a "source of income". The Section 8 program is a rental assistance program administered by the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development to help low-income families secure housing. The Chicago Commission on Human Relations ruled that the landlord violated Chicago's fair housing ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on source of income; a trial court overruled the Commission, holding that Section 8 benefits were not a source of income under that ordinance. The tenant was awarded damages of $5,610 and the landlord was fined $250.