SAN ANTONIO — A U.S. Air Force veteran is hoping the City of San Antonio adopts a policy centralized around stripping barriers for low-income veterans who rely on housing choice vouchers to help supplement their monthly rent.
“With that Section 8 voucher they should be able to live by BAMC (Brooke Army Medical Center), they should be able to live by Audy Murphy (Memorial Veterans Hospital)—the places where they choose to live at but can’t because of the discrimination that’s happening to Section 8 voucher holders," said Rich Acosta, founder of the nonprofit organization My City is My Home, which provides free and low-cost property tax protesting services.
Acosta also serves as chair of the housing committee at VFW Post 9186.
The proposed policy calls for banning income source discrimination involving military veterans, meaning landlords wouldn't be allowed to reject a prospective tenant just because they take advantage of housing choice vouchers.
Acosta pointed to advocacy efforts a few years back when San Antonio City Council took action on implementing regulations for property owners of new city-funded housing within the bounds of state law.
“It used to be before 2021 that if the city gave funding to an apartment to develop, they wouldn’t have to accept Section 8 vouchers," Acosta said. "If you’re going to accept our tax payer dollars to develop, should be accepting our tax payer dollars for our programs for affordable housing.”
The Air Force veteran, who also works as a real estate agent, said certain areas of San Antonio are essentially Section 8 housing deserts. He wants to change that.
"As a real estate agent, I can go online and I can see that's there's over a thousand properties for rent," he said. "But as soon as I click a little button in our system to accept Section 8, it drops down to less than 8% of the properties city-wide accept Section 8, particularly on the north side of San Antonio. If you’re a landlord in San Antonio and the veteran's passing all your background checks, you need to accept a Section 8 voucher for veterans in Military City USA."
The San Antonio Apartment Association provided an emailed statement expressing support for veterans to "have access to safe and stable housing" while at the same time opposing the policy proposal introduced by My City is My Home.
The association cites several roadblocks to housing providers, including inconsistent unit inspections, delays in rent payments, certification of resident eligibility and other obstacles that "make it too expensive for a small private owner to rent to a voucher holder."
"We do not feel that further regulations to require private housing providers to be a part of the voluntary housing voucher program are necessary," the association says. "Instead, the San Antonio Apartment Association asks that before this committee takes any action, that data be carefully evaluated to determine if potential policy changes to the voucher program can remove barriers for housing providers instead of adding them. We stand ready to assist and collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure that our veterans have the housing they need and deserve."