***For Immediate Release***
September 8, 2025
Contact: Sierra Salgado Pirigyi
Communications Director, Nebraska Appleseed
Office: (402) 438-8853 ext 116
sierrasp@neappleseed.org
RELEASE: Housing discrimination lawsuit seeks to undermine the will of Lincoln voters
Nearly 66% of Lincolnites voted in May to ban housing discrimination based on a renter or buyer‘s source of income
LINCOLN, NE — Last Thursday, a lawsuit was filed to challenge Lincoln’s recently-enacted ban on housing discrimination based on a renter or buyer‘s source of income.
The lawsuit, filed by local landlords, seeks to invalidate the Lincoln for Fair Housing ballot initiative, which passed with 66% of the vote in Lincoln’s May election. The voter-approved law, which went into effect soon after the election, adopts city-wide source-of-income protections by prohibiting landlords and property managers from turning away tenants based solely on how they pay rent.
Ken Smith, Nebraska Appleseed’s Economic Justice Director, issued the following statement in response:
“This lawsuit is meritless, harmful, and an attempt to thwart the will of Lincoln voters.
The Lincoln For Fair Housing ballot initiative was a people-powered ordinance with broad support from Lincolnites across our city that reflected a shared belief that we all deserve a fair chance at home and no Lincolnite should be turned away from housing just because of how they pay. Our coalition of housing advocates is looking at all of the options we have to help defend the ordinance that Lincoln voters enacted just earlier this year.”
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