photo by: Journal-World photo/Chad Lawhorn

The Links at Kansas apartment project in northwest Lawrence is pictured on Aug. 16, 2018. The sand area in the picture is where a putting green will be installed as part of a nine-hole golf course at the complex.

The city has filed suit against another apartment complex alleging discrimination against a prospective disabled renter based on the renter’s source of income.

The 23-year-old disabled woman was ready to move into her new apartment at The Links, 5401 Rock Chalk Dr., in August of 2023 but just days before she moved, she was informed that because she intended to pay her rent using primarily a Section 8 voucher she would not be permitted to move in, according to the suit filed by the City of Lawrence in Douglas County District Court.

A Section 8 voucher is the federal government’s major program for assisting low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford housing in the private market, according to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website.

The Lawrence City Commission unanimously voted to enact an ordinance in February of 2023 that prevented landlords from discriminating against tenants based on their source of income, status as a crime survivor, or immigration status, as the Journal-World reported. A group of landlords sued to reverse the ordinance but a Douglas County judge ultimately threw the suit out and the group of landlords have appealed that decision.

The lawsuit against the Links is the second that the city has filed against Lawrence’s landlords, the first being against River City Homes Inc. where landlord Sue Herynk denied a rental property to a woman who was receiving a Section 8 Housing voucher under the Violence Against Women Act. That case is still being litigated in the district court with a trial date set in June 2025.

The new suit against the Links alleges that the woman passed several bars for acceptance before getting an apartment at the Links, according to court filings. She was required to pay an additional deposit and to obtain a co-signer for the property because her monthly income was below what The Links required and she was approved and scheduled to move in on August 7, 2023.

A few days before moving in, the woman asked the assistant manager at the Links how she should plan to pay her rent using her Section 8 voucher. The assistant manager informed the woman that The Links only accepts payment through a third-party service called RentCafe and that the service does not accept the vouchers.

The Links then refused to rent the woman an apartment, according to the filing. The woman filed a complaint with the city in November 2023 and the city conducted a full investigation. After the city determined The Links had violated city code it attempted to mediate the situation but representation for The Links refused conciliatory mediation in favor of civil litigation.

The Links has yet to formally respond to the city’s lawsuit in court, but prior to the suit being filed, an attorney for The Links wrote a letter to the city that said the renter was informed multiple times before the move-in date that The Links did not accept Section 8 vouchers and that The Links would continue with that practice despite the city’s ordinance.

In that letter, The Links denies that it discriminated against the woman based on her income by not accepting the voucher. Instead, The Links claimed that they denied the woman housing because by accepting the voucher, it would force The Links to alter its lease agreement requiring the lease to include a “word for word” addendum from HUD. The change would also increase the scrutiny on the apartment complex and would make The Links subject to inspections from the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, according to the letter.

The Links argued that the city has no power to force The Links to alter its lease contracts and therefore cannot enforce the ordinance in this instance.

“An interpretation that broadens Ordinance No. 9960 to require private businesses to accept contract terms to which they do not agree in order to receive payment would result in illogical, unintended, and unconstitutional consequences,” the letter said.

The case was filed on August 2, 2024, in Douglas County District Court and the Links is expected to file a formal response by the end of the year and then the case can be scheduled for a hearing before a judge.

The Journal-World has reached out to The Links and the City of Lawrence for more comment.