Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones wants to ban landlords from turning down people who pay their rent through a veterans’ housing voucher, but colleagues on the City Council are hesitant to green-light a policy they say could put unfair requirements on private property owners.

Earlier this month, Jones put a proposal on the council’s agenda that would implement a $500 fine for housing providers who are caught refusing to lease or rent to a military veteran because their legal source of income comes from a federal housing program.

Fort Worth approved a similar ordinance and a previous San Antonio City Council considered doing the same in 2024.

But landlords and the San Antonio Apartment Association have complained that the voucher process is too expensive and time-consuming to require all landlords to accept them, and the idea was tabled to focus on a broader effort to increase the housing supply for all kinds of voucher recipients instead. 

“Making sure that every single veteran in our community has a place to live is extremely important … [but] these voucher programs … there’s been problems with them,” said Councilman Marc Whyte (D10), who pointed to the inspection process and payment delays as examples. “What is being proposed, really, is requiring private property owners to participate in a federal subsidy program, regardless of their experience with that program’s administration.”

Last week, Jones brought it back up, suggesting that the council had let a good idea get sucked up in municipal bureaucracy.

“I think what’s been absent from this discussion is understanding the importance of housing and its proximity to the health care that veterans require and need,” she said. ” … As a veteran serving on this body and understanding just how significant veteran homelessness is in our community … [we should be doing] as much as we can possibly do to help people quickly get through this process.”

Her council colleagues were largely unmoved.

Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) is already working on a plan to incentivize more property owners to accept housing vouchers, they said.

And according to data provided by the city, only about 120 veterans with vouchers are currently in search of places to accept it.

Some of that could be tied to other factors this ordinance wouldn’t fix, said Veronica Garcia, who oversees the city’s Neighborhood and Housing Services Department.

“If this ordinance was passed, it would only protect the voucher as the reason for being turned away,” Garcia said. “Other reasons a veteran may not be able to be housed could be, they don’t meet the other leasing criteria for the property, maybe there’s a background check, credit rating, a previous eviction.”

But Jones, who is currently the only veteran on the council, hauled up experts to testify from the American GI Forum who questioned the city’s understanding of the issues, and say bigger changes are still needed to help veterans find housing.

“It’s kind of alarming what y’all are saying because most of the people that are not going to report this to ya’ll, it’s because they’re grunts,” said Peter Bernal, commander of the American GI Forum of Bexar County. “We’re not going to complain about it … we’re just gonna hide from it and just say everything’s okay.”

Members of the council chose to send the idea back to the Planning and Community Development Committee where they could study it more, and perhaps alleviate fears from landlords who don’t understand what’s being asked of them.

“There are people that call and say, ‘Does this mean that I, as a private renter who rents a second home out, now am going to have to take a voucher?’” said Councilman Edward Mungia (D4). “I think we need to make sure that people understand what the actual rules will be.”

Later that same evening, Jones vented her frustration to female veterans at the VFW Post 76, where she hosted a gathering to help connect them with VA benefits advisors.

“In Military City, USA, there is no friggin’ excuse why we can’t do what Fort Worth has done two doggone years ago,” she told the gathering. “My bulls*** meter is real low.”