Elena M. in her current apartment.
Elena M. says she may have faced discrimination in her recent housing search because she receives Section 8 housing assistance.
Housing complaints in Madison more than quadrupled from 2022 to 2023, increasing from 27 to 156, according to data from the city’s Equal Opportunities Division obtained by Isthmus. In 2020 and 2021, fewer than 20 housing complaints were filed with the division, located in the city’s Civil Rights Department.
Referencing the recent “surge” in complaints, the Equal Opportunities Commission held a community listening session Thursday night at Lakeview Library on the city’s north side. “That’s what got us here today,” Byron Bishop, manager of the city’s equal opportunities division, told the room of residents, representatives from housing assistance groups, city staff, and commissioners. “A lot of people decided to complain.”
At the meeting, residents shared stories of living with pests and mold, problems with unresponsive management and discrimination, and struggling with paying rent after the expiration of pandemic-era rental assistance.
Several speakers said they feared retaliation; Bishop noted that the meeting was not being recorded because at a previous meeting attendees had been served with evictions after publicly airing their complaints.
“There is fear,” said one tenant of a north-side apartment complex who said she was there on behalf of other residents not wanting to speak out publicly. “To think, ‘if I speak up, I can lose this housing’ — that’s a real thing.”
Under Madison’s equal opportunity ordinance, building code complainants are considered a protected class, legally shielded from discrimination and retaliation.
Elena M., a single parent and student, said landlords routinely denied her housing applications or changed their mind about renting to her once they learned she was a recipient of Section 8 housing assistance.
“It took time away from studying,” says Elena, “and financially it was just a strain” because of the application fees.
Some in the room suggested that discrimination could be at play, something the EOC is tasked with investigating. By law, Elena would have a year to file complaints against properties she believed improperly denied her application. But after the meeting, Elena told Isthmus that would likely be too much of a burden for her while attending school and raising a child.
Bishop says in recent years the Department of Civil Rights has made complaint forms more accessible, providing them online and in other languages, which has encouraged more residents to fill them out.
The commission will host two or three more listening sessions this year and then create a plan to address concerns based on the feedback it receives.
