Breaking Barriers: Insights on Fair Housing Practices, the HOME Act, and Supporting Vulnerable Tenants in Maryland

 "Breaking Barriers: Insights on Fair Housing Practices, the HOME Act, and Supporting Vulnerable Tenants in Maryland"

By Jeremy Collins

In November, my colleague Ranada Gasque invited the entire cooperative to a training on Fair Housing Practices with LaToya McKay of Economic Action Maryland. In the 1.5 hour training, we learned a ton of information about the HOME Act in relation to source of income being a protected class and working with tenants who have vouchers.As a media manager not directly involved with tenants, the session offered valuable insight into how voucher users navigate housing and broadened my perspective on advocating for the most vulnerable in my role with a housing provider.

Baltimore City and its history of redlining is familiar to many, but the state as a whole has historically used discrimination to move populations of people from one place or another. When you look at the racial make-up of the city, it’s understood that the poorer neighborhoods are Black and the wealthier neighborhoods are white and nestled along Charles Street which divides the city east and west. As neighborhoods develop more and more, people have become creative in ways to discourage or straight up deny groups of people living accommodations, and source-of-income was one of those distinctions. People who use vouchers can be unfairly associated with certain circumstances and living situations. But the Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) Act, ratified and made law in 2020, made source of income a protected class in the state of Maryland.

Another topic we touched on, though briefly, was handling accommodation requests for tenants with accessibility needs. Baltimore City is currently changing a lot of infrastructure to make things more accessible from sidewalk adjustments and more. 

By the time the session was over, I had a greater appreciation for Ranada for encouraging those of us who don’t work directly with tenants to learn a bit more about the obstacles they can face simply because of how they may choose to pay for their housing.

To learn more about Fair Housing or Economic Action Maryland, visit their website here.