Karen Paup, Texas Housers co-director

Readers will recall that, at the behest of the Austin Apartment Association, the Texas Legislature passed and Governor Abbott signed into law a bill that prohibits Texas cities from enacting anti-discrimination protections for citizens who rent apartments using Housing Choice Vouchers. (The legislature did grant an exception giving cities the power to protect veterans who use vouchers from landlord discrimination.) The legislation was a reaction to a fair housing ordinance unanimously adopted by the Austin City Council last year.

As we approach September 1, when the state law takes effect and Austin’s source of income protection ordinance will no longer be enforceable, it’s time to consider ways to mitigate the racial and ethnic segregation that voucher discrimination creates.

In hearings before the Legislature, representatives of the Austin Apartment Association repeatedly testified that they had alternatives to Austin’s ordinance, different ways to protect…