FRANKFORT, Ky. — Members of the Lexington-Fayette County Urban Council will vote on an ordinance Thursday night banning source of income discrimination.

The council is moving forward with the ordinance despite the state legislature's actions to prevent Kentucky cities from doing just that.

House Bill 18 and Senate Bill 25 both prohibit local governments from adopting bans on the source of income used to pay rent. Wednesday, a committee substitute amended HB 18 to include language from the Senate bill, effectively combining both bills into one.

State Representative Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester, said it’s a unified effort among House and Senate Republicans to protect what they said are private property owners’ rights.

“We just want to send a strong message that we’re standing with our property owners here in the state of Kentucky,” Dotson said.

Dotson’s amended bill passed the Senate’s local government committee Wednesday. It would prohibit local governments from enforcing a ban that would allow landlords to refuse leasing a housing unit based on someone’s source of income.

“No one should be forced to do business with the government," Dotson said. "That is an individual property owner’s right."

In 2020, Louisville passed its ban on source of income discrimination. The Lexington City Council will consider a similar measure Thursday night protecting tenants who pay rent with federal vouchers or other non-traditional forms of income.

Dotson said these tenants may come with a higher risk to landlords.

“We had one testify in committee a couple weeks ago; they had $60,000 worth of damages through a tenant who used a voucher, and there was no way to recoup those costs," Dotson said. "There’s a lot of cost burden to the individual property owner; that’s their investment."

Opponents of the bill argue local governments have a better understanding of their housing needs, adding it would also affect veterans who rely on assistance for housing.

Andrew Bates of the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises said he stands with Louisville and Lexington's governments, even though the bill does not affect the people his organization serves. 

“Many of our veterans in Kentucky depend on housing choice vouchers through the HUD-VASH program, and as written, would prevent a community from requiring property owners to accept those vouchers from homeless veterans,” Bates said.

State Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, said housing is an issue but local ordinances infringing on property owners' "rights" is not the answer.

“The housing crisis, like many of the problems we have here in Frankfort ... there’s no silver bullet, no simple 'If we just filed this bill, it would fix everything,'" West said. 

West said he believes Lexington’s proposed ordinance may be unconstitutional in some cases. He said the housing crisis is not one person’s fault and rather stems from issues such as inflation.

“That inflation is at the gas pump and grocery store but also when you go to pay rent," West said. "The apartment owners, property owners have fixed costs, and when their fixed costs go up, then they pass this along to tenants."

The major difference between the two bills was SB 25 specified Section 8 vouchers, while HB 18 included any federal housing assistance program.

“We sat down, looked at our bills and we meshed those two bills together and just made it a stronger bill going forward,” Dotson said.

The amended house bill has an emergency declaration, meaning it will become law immediately upon its passing. HB 18 will now be read to the full Senate. If it passes the Senate, it will then head back to the House to review the changes.