Lawmakers in Missouri Vote to Advance Preemption Policy Targeting Source-of-Income Protections and Other Tenant Rights
May 19, 2025
In May, lawmakers in Missouri passed a harmful preemption bill that would limit the power of local cities and towns from enacting several tenant protection policies by a 23-10 vote. Under “House Bill 595,” no county or city is permitted to enact laws that: (1) prohibit landlords or property owners discriminating against tenants based on their lawful and verifiable income source, including Section 8 housing voucher holders or tenants who receive any other form of government funded housing assistance; (2) restrict a landlord from using information related to a tenant’s background, including credit scores or credit checks, to determine whether to lease a unit to a prospective tenant; (3) would limit the amount of money that a landlord or property owner can charge for a security deposit; or (4) would require tenants to receive the right of first refusal when a property goes for sale. The bill is now on Governor Mike Kehoe’s desk for final approval on May 7.
If signed into law, Missouri’s new preemption bill would have devastating consequences for renter households across the state. Not only would “House Bill 595” limit the ability of housing advocates to enact future legislation that would strengthen renters’ rights, the bill, if signed into law by Governor Kehoe, would impact already existing tenant protection policies that prohibit source-of-income (SOI) discrimination and allow landlords to deny housing opportunities to tenants based on their background or credit history. In 2024, lawmakers in Kansas City passed “Ordinance No. 231019” a source-of-income anti-discrimination bill that would prohibit landlords and property owners from discriminating against tenants for the verifiable source of income that they use to pay rent, which can include a Section 8 housing choice voucher or another form of government-based housing assistance. The law also prohibits the denial of housing to prospective applicants based on a tenant’s history, including past convictions for non-violent crimes, a tenant’s credit history, or information on past evictions as well.
Kansas City’s long-awaited SOI law took effect in August 2024 with opponents of the law working swiftly to prohibit the enforcement of the ordinance. In a suit filed by Kansas City residential landlords in a federal district court, the ordinance was upheld in February 2025, with the final ruling stating that a landlord does not have to opt-into accepting a tenant’s housing choice voucher, though the law would still limit the usage of a tenant’s background or credit history in renting a unit to a prospective tenant. Under “House Bill 595,” the law would completely do away with Kansas City’s law, as well as other laws that target SOI discrimination or clarify tenant screening practices.
Source-of-income anti-discrimination laws are important in ensuring that the lowest-income and most marginalized renters are able to find – and secure – housing options of their choice. When passed, SOI laws state that a landlord or property owner cannot deny a tenant housing based on their status as a voucher holder, instead making “source-of-income” a protected class within a state or locality’s fair housing laws. Moreover, the enactment of SOI laws also work to ensure that housing assistance recipients do not face the stigma associated with holding a voucher, which can pose a significant housing barrier to prospective housing applicants. Indeed, the presence of a Section 8 housing choice voucher can result in a landlord or property owner refusing to rent a unit to a tenant outright.
When a tenant is unable to secure housing, they run the risk of their housing voucher expiring. Because housing vouchers have a limited lifespan, the expiry of the voucher means that the voucher can be returned to the public housing authority (PHA) who issued it, requiring in the end for the tenant to rejoin the waiting list to reapply to receive assistance. According to Empower Missouri, the NLIHC Missouri State Partner and a statewide justice-based advocacy group, as of 2024, the state has 130 PHA’s, with only 20 PHA’s even accepting applications for assistance. In the state, the group reports that households can wait years to be interviewed for assistance.
Sponsored by Senator Nick Schroer (R-District 2) and Representative Chris Brown (R-District 16), “House Bill 595” also targets laws that would limit excessive security deposit fees, as well as any law that allows tenants the “right of first refusal” when a housing unit is put up for sale. When the right of first refusal laws are passed, tenants are given the first opportunity to purchase the property. Such laws are often passed as “Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act” (TOPA) laws, with such laws in place in the District of Columbia.
Since the introduction of “House Bill 595” in February 2025, housing advocates across the State of Missouri have rallied in opposition of the bill. In April 2025, Empower Missouri released an action alert urging constituents to contact their representatives to vote ‘NO’ on the bill. Speaking to the passage of “House Bill 595,” Misha Smith, affordable housing policy manager at Empower Missouri noted “We are disappointed with the passage of HB 595 and the impact it will have on low-income renters' in Missouri. This bill, once it becomes effective on August 28th, will increase housing insecurity for our most at-risk neighbors: children, older adults, and people living with disabilities. It will also be a setback to the progress we have seen with veteran homelessness, which saw record breaking lows due to the work of the VA and use of housing vouchers. As we are seeing record-breaking increases in rent and homelessness, we need to be supporting policy that addresses these issues, not contributes to them.”
Preemption policies have been gaining traction since the federally declared end of the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2023. Not only have states preempted the passage of source-of-income anti-discrimination laws, including Idaho (“House Bill 545”) and Kentucky (“House Bill 18”), states have also limited localities from enacting tenant protection policies altogether. In 2023, Florida passed “House Bill 1417” to restrict the passage of laws that strengthen renters’ rights and do away with over 30 existing tenant protection policies, such as tenant bill of rights policies.
More information on Missouri’s “House Bill 595” can be found here.
For more information on state and local tenant protection policies in place, please visit NLIHC’s State and Local Tenant Protections database at: https://nlihc.org/tenant-protections.