My friend writes on homelessla.com:
From Aagla (Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles) we get the Answer: In California, you can’t discriminate against prospective renters on the basis of their income source. For insstance, you can’t put something in your ad such as, “Welfare recipients need not apply.” That’s illegal. But in this case, you can add Section 8 language to your ad because the Department of Fair Employment and Housing does not consider a Section 8 Housing subsidy a “source of income.” Government Code Section (p) (1) says, “For the purposes of this section, ’source of income’ means lawful, verifiable income paid directly to a tenant or paid to a representative of a tenant. A landlord is not considered a representative of a tenant. A landlord is not considered a representative of a tenant.” Although the Section 8 program, which provides rent subsidies to low-income families, has been criticized in the past for having over-burdensome inspections, a cumbersome voucher procedure and complicated rent calculations, the House passed a bill in July attempting to reform the program.
