A group of Lawrence landlords have taken their argument against the city’s ordinance meant to ensure voucher recipients can find housing to a higher court. 

The Lawrence City Commission in February 2023 approved an ordinance change that creates a protected class based on renters’ source of income, as well as their status as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking or stalking. It also disallows discrimination based on prospective tenants’ immigration status. The ordinance went into effect June 1, 2023. 

The Landlords of Lawrence — an association of 30-plus local landlords — filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing the language of the ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and that it infringes on their discretion as businesspeople.

But Douglas County District Judge Mark Simpson ruled in May 2024 that the ordinance could stand, ruling that the “prohibited conduct is simple and clear: a landlord shall not consider the source of a prospective tenant’s rent payments in determining whether to rent to that person.” 

The landlords appealed, and a panel of Kansas Court of Appeals judges heard arguments in the case Tuesday morning at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park.

Attorneys made some of the same arguments they’d made in Douglas County court. 

Adam Hall, of Thompson-Hall P.A., argued on behalf of the landlords that the language of the ordinance was unconstitutionally broad and vague. 

“What the Fifth Amendment prohibits is a grant of authority or a prohibition that is so broadly stated, so lacking in precision, that the enforcement agents are effectively becoming policymakers themselves,” Hall said. 

It’s also problematic, he said, because someone won’t be able to follow a law that they don’t understand. They might not realize they had acted unlawfully until they receive a complaint, Hall said.

He said the city would likely argue that the ordinance does not require landlords to participate in housing voucher programs.

But as the landlords see it, “If a landlord advertises, ‘We don’t accept Section 8 housing,’ or ‘We don’t participate in that program,’ that itself is an act of unlawful discrimination” under the ordinance, Hall said. 

Judge Rachel Pickering asked about similar ordinances that have been enacted in other cities across the country, both before and after Lawrence’s. 

Michelle Stewart, of Hinkle Law Firm, argued on behalf of the city. She said courts elsewhere have held that similar ordinances do not require mandatory participation in voucher programs. 

Stewart said the ordinance doesn’t bar landlords from denying prospective tenants for other reasons, but it does bar them from denying housing based solely on someone’s source of income, just as discrimination based on race, ethnicity or gender would be a violation. It doesn’t mandate participation in voucher programs, she said. 

Stewart told the judges that source of income was added to the city’s existing discrimination ordinance because of the shortage of available housing and rental units in the city. This is the first time enforcement of it has been challenged, she said. 

Pickering asked about other provisions of the ordinance. The landlords had not objected to inclusion of status as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault or human trafficking. Stewart said she was not sure why the landlords didn’t challenge that part.

The landlords had, however, challenged the immigration status protection, interpreting it to mean that they could potentially be guilty of harboring people who are undocumented. Stewart said certain members of the landlords group said they didn’t even ask about immigration status, so they weren’t violating that part of the ordinance even before it was enacted. 

The judges will release an opinion on the case, likely in the coming months. Either side would then be able to petition to the Kansas Supreme Court to review the ruling. 

Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

• Bluesky
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

More coverage:

MORE …

Latest Lawrence news:

MORE …