A real estate company has filed a lawsuit against the City of Lawrence challenging an ordinance that bans discrimination based on where a potential tenant’s rent payments would come from, such as housing vouchers.
The case was filed in federal court Thursday by Tower Properties Company, which is based in Overland Park and owns Harper Square Apartments at 2201 Harper St. The company is asking the court for a permanent injunction to prevent the city from enforcing the ordinance.
The Lawrence City Commission in February 2023 approved the ordinance change, which created a protected class based on renters’ source of income, which could include housing vouchers, settlements, benefits, subsidies, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers and more. It also bans discrimination based on prospective tenants’ immigration status or their status as a survivor of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking or stalking. The ordinance went into effect in June 2023.
Tower’s lawsuit is not the first legal challenge the city has faced regarding the ordinance.
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An attorney for the city previously argued that 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. She said it doesn’t mandate participation in voucher programs.
A Douglas County judge upheld the ordinance in May 2024, the Court of Appeals upheld that judge’s decision a year later, and the Kansas Supreme Court declined to review the case.
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According to the federal case filed this week, a person applied to live at Harper Square, and their application was accepted. But when Tower told the applicant that the company would not accept housing choice vouchers for payment, the applicant declined to sign a lease and filed a complaint with the city.
The city investigated the complaint and determined there was probable cause that Tower had denied the applicant housing based on their source of income, according to a December letter from the city to the company that’s included in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says that “Underneath the laudable goal of fair and affordable housing … lies a more insidious truth” — that the ordinance requires landlords to enter a binding agreement with the federal government, obligating them to comply with all requirements of the housing choice voucher program. The federal government does not require landlords to accept housing vouchers because of the “substantial burdens” the program places on landlords, the lawsuit states.
“So, the Ordinance effectively forces landlords who would otherwise choose not to participate in the Section 8 program (as is their right under federal law) into an untenable Hobson’s choice — either involuntarily comply with each and every applicable Section 8 program requirement, or decline to do so and risk being prosecuted by the City for violating the Ordinance,” the lawsuit states.
The city asked Tower to sign a conciliation agreement pledging that the company would not discriminate against rental applicants based on their source of income in the future, but the company would not sign, according to the lawsuit.
The next step in the city’s process would be a public hearing before the Human Relations Commission, unless the company instead requests a civil action in Douglas County District Court instead, according to documents in the case. It did not appear from public case filings that a district court case had been filed as of Friday. Tower filed the federal case on Thursday.
The lawsuit is asking the court to declare the ordinance unconstitutional and unenforceable, and to issue a preliminary injunction while the case is pending to immediately stop the city’s enforcement of the ordinance. It’s also asking for a permanent injunction.
According to documents on file with the state, Tower also owns Hutton Farms, Tuckaway and Briarwood of Lawrence.
The case has been assigned to District Judge Daniel Crabtree.
Spokespeople for the city declined to comment for this article. Attorneys for Tower had not respond to an email seeking comment by the time of publication Friday.
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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.
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New lawsuit challenges City of Lawrence’s housing discrimination ordinance
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