Senate committee debates tenant screening rules after judiciary review of immigrant-status immunity

The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee continued work on a housing bill that would add protections for renters and restrict how landlords screen applicants, with members debating a provision on immigration status and a separate change that would force landlords to accept one of three forms of identification if an applicant lacks a Social Security number.

Committee members said the Senate Judiciary Committee reviewed the draft and "generally supported" the additions but recommended language to avoid conflicts with federal law. The provision discussed would add two subsections to the bill's unfair housing practices section saying that if federal law requires verification of immigration status or allows taking immigration status into account for credit, doing so would not itself violate state law.

The committee heard from Angela Zaykowski, director of the Vermont Landlords Association, who said the proposed immigration-related language still leaves many landlords in a precarious position. "It creates this conflict between state law and federal law and or federal actions that could have our housing providers caught sort of in the crosshairs," Zaykowski said. She warned that landlords, facing uncertainty about federal enforcement, might be reluctant to offer new rental units or ADUs because "the more uncertainty that is imposed into this relationship ... the less likely people are to make that ADU unit, to put another unit online." (Angela Zaykowski, director, Vermont Landlords Association)

The committee also turned to the bill's Section 11, which would address Social Security numbers on rental applications. Under the draft discussed in committee, a landlord could request one…