If you are a property manager in Austin you are well aware of the ordinance that the City of Austin passed earlier in the year with regards to discrimination against “Source of Income”. However, this ordinance has not officially taken affect. The Austin Apartment Association (AAA) has been trying very hard to stop this ordinance and terminate it completely. At the end of February Judge Sparks rejected the Austin Apartment Association’s request for injunction on the ordinance and it looked like it was going to go into affect. However, AAA didn’t give up. They took it to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals where the judge granted an emergency injunction. This injunction doesn’t abolish the ordinance it just buys AAA more time to put their case together to fight the “Source of Income” discrimination claim the city is making. Honestly, if there was an overhaul of the HUD entity itself I would support it. There is not enough regulation in this program in my opinion to provide funding to those truly in need and terminate funding for those that don’t really need it. Not to mention, there needs to be some kind of work program to get those capable back in the work force. In my opinion, by merely giving subsidies to those people capable of working is only enabling them to be unproductive. We have to fix the real problem not just band-aid it and hope the bleeding stops.
