Five years after California lawmakers banned landlords from refusing to rent to tenants who use housing vouchers , new undercover tests show most Southern California landlords are still discriminating against voucher holders.
The California Civil Rights Department sponsored the testing, which was carried out last year by the L.A.-based Housing Rights Center. Results announced Thursday showed that 54% of rental properties tested in L.A. and Ventura counties discriminated against tenants using federal housing assistance vouchers, commonly referred to as Section 8.
“There are some instances where people say openly discriminatory things, like, ‘No, we don’t accept Section 8,’” said Kevin Kish, director of the California Civil Rights Department…