PRRAC Update (September 18, 2025): Register for Housing Mobility Conference! + Nebraska SOID challenge; CA zoning reform

New Misguided Challenge to Source-of-Income Discrimination Protections Filed in Nebraska: On September 4, 2025, four private landlords filed suit in the District Court of Lancaster County, Nebraska, challenging the City of Lincoln’s ordinance banning source-of-income discrimination in housing, including against tenants with Housing Choice Vouchers. Their complaint alleges that the ordinance violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures by requiring landlords to submit to the inspection of their business records, which is a condition of landlord participation in the Housing Choice Voucher Program, and violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Amendment issue is being litigated in other courts, as our September 4 PRRAC Update highlighted. In short, landlords’ claims that their refusal to rent to voucher holders is grounded in privacy-based objections to participation in the Housing Choice Voucher Program are generally pretextual, and neither Housing Quality Standards inspections nor inspections of business records are investigatory for purposes of the Fourth Amendment. With respect to the preemption argument under the Supremacy Clause, courts have roundly rejected the argument that, in making the Housing Choice Voucher Program voluntary, Congress intended to prevent states and localities from making participation mandatory. PRRAC will continue to monitor this case as it develops. Those who are interested in how things play out on the ground in Nebraska should follow the work of Nebraska Appleseed.

California Legislature Passes Major Zoning Reform Bill, Which Awaits Governor Newsom’s Signature: On September 12, 2025, the California Legislature passed SB 79, a major zoning reform bill, which now awaits Governor Newsom’s signature. If signed, the bill would require that multi-family housing be a permitted use within defined radii of transit stations in certain urban counties, with the exact density regulations (and related regulations around building height) depending on the type of transit station and the degree of proximity. Housing built pursuant to the bill would be required to include a set-aside of affordable units. The obligation to comply would set in more quickly in well-resourced areas than in census tracts with fewer resources. The bill contains limitations on the demolition of existing housing, including rent-controlled housing. The passage of the bill marks the end of a years-long saga that included debates over affordability, anti-displacement, and local control. At the end of the day, the bill is not drafted in the way that advocates and legislators principally focused on racial equity and fair housing would draft an upzoning bill, but it is quite possible that it will have positive effects. Time will tell how effective the provisions included to reduce the likelihood of adverse unintended consequences – like displacement – will be. If signed, SB 79 is also sure to provide researchers with many opportunities for empirical study.

Other news and resources

Continuum of Care Grant Conditions Lawsuit Filed: On September 11, 2025, Democracy Forward, National Homelessness Law Center, Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, and ACLU Foundation of Rhode Island filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island on behalf of the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the Women’s Development Corporation. The lawsuit challenges the imposition of new conditions on Continuum of Care grants that would prohibit grantees from implementing evidence-based approaches to ending homelessness like Housing First.

Alan Mallach on Sprawl: Author and planner Alan Mallach has an outstanding piece on The Sapiens Project about sprawl, infill development, site assembly, and efforts to increase housing supply.