New bill would ban housing discrimination against immigrants, noncitizens
Councilmember Mink says documentation status 'doesn’t tell you anything about how a person is going to be as a tenant or a homebuyer'
By
Ceoli JacobyJuly 31, 2026 9:50 a.m.
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Montgomery County’s fair housing law is silent when it comes to citizenship and immigration status. Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Dist. 5) on Tuesday introduced a bill to change that.
“Documentation status doesn’t tell you anything about how a person is going to be as a tenant or a homebuyer,” Mink told Bethesda Today in a Wednesday interview. “There’s many other metrics that are much more informative.”
The bill, co-sponsored by Councilmembers Will Jawando (D-At-large) and Kate Stewart (D-Dist. 4), would make it illegal to deny or withhold housing from a person based on citizenship or immigration status.
It would also bar housing providers from misrepresenting the availability of housing, declining to make needed repairs or engaging in other discriminatory practices based on a person’s citizenship or immigration status.
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The county’s fair housing law already bans discrimination based on several other characteristics including race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status and gender identity.
While some of those characteristics might overlap with immigration and citizenship status, Mink said the county needs to have a legal basis for holding accountable any housing provider that specifically uses a resident’s possible detention or deportation against them. Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties have similar laws on the books, according to a council staff report.
Under Mink’s bill, victims of discrimination or intimidation could pursue civil action against their housing provider. The Office of the County Attorney could also sue to enforce the law.
The bill would also allow for early termination of a lease with 30-day notice if a tenant or another resident is detained, deported or held for more than 30 days as part of immigration proceedings.
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Mink told Bethesda Today that discrimination by housing providers against immigrants and noncitizens is likely more pervasive than county officials know. “We have to assume that for every case we hear about, there’s many more that we’re not hearing about,” she said.
Some instances of alleged discriminatory practices by housing providers in the county have been made public in recent years.
Following a deadly explosion at Silver Spring’s Flower Branch apartments in 2016, residents and local advocacy groups argued that the complex’s property management company systematically ignored maintenance issues reported by residents there, many of whom were recent immigrants. The company, Kay Management, ultimately reached a confidential settlement with victims’ families.
Matt Losak, the Executive Director of the Montgomery County Renters Alliance, told Bethesda Today in a statement Thursday that the organization believes access to housing should not be based on national origin or immigration status.
“A landlord has a reasonable right to screen any prospective tenant based on the applicant’s ability to pay rent,” Losak wrote. “But it would not be appropriate for a landlord to block a tenancy based on their speculation over whether a tenant may one day be subject to law enforcement of any kind.”
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He also noted that existing law already allows for early termination of a lease with a 30-day notice as a result of circumstances “beyond the tenant’s control.” In most cases, Losak said, tenants do not have advance notice of or control over their detention or deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“Given the current excesses and lack of due process that has set off alarms over ICE operations across the nation, we support legislation that limits the possibility of furthering the abuse and housing destabilization of our immigrant community,” Losak wrote.
Cynthia Alfaro, a spokesperson for the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington, told Bethesda Today in a Thursday email that the organization was still reviewing the provisions of Mink’s bill and would complete a careful analysis before taking a formal position on the proposal.
“We look forward to working with Councilmember Mink and her colleagues on the Council to promote fair, consistent housing practices while ensuring housing providers retain the tools needed to evaluate applications lawfully and consistently,” Alfaro wrote.
The County Council’s August recess begins Monday and lasts through Labor Day. According to Mink, work on the bill will resume after the break.
“Hopefully, we can get this done really quickly,” Mink said Wednesday. “This is just going into the same bucket of fair housing processes and procedures that we have in other categories.”
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine