Berkeley, CA Rental Property Rules: Source-of-Income Discrimination (2026)

020 bars landlords, agents, and employees from refusing to rent, serving termination notices, or filing unlawful detainer actions based on a prospective or current tenant's source of income, which the chapter defines broadly to include Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers, and any other lawful federal, state, local or nonprofit rental assistance. Landlords also cannot advertise a unit as unavailable to voucher holders when it is actually available, or apply different rental terms based on income source. Subsection D specifically outlaws financial screening standards that privilege a tenant's direct earnings over a housing subsidy, discount assistance payments when calculating qualifying income, or refuse to aggregate the combined income of co-tenants and cosigners the way a landlord would for married applicants.

010 note Berkeley administers the Housing Choice Voucher and VASH programs and found more than 300 low-income, senior, and disabled residents who could afford market rent if landlords accepted their vouchers. The chapter was adopted because Government Code § 12955(p)(1) leaves voucher holders unprotected under state law, per Sabi v. 4th 916, so Berkeley enacted its own local prohibition rather than relying on state civil rights law alone.