Relman Colfax represents officials of the Commonwealth of Virginia in a challenge to the source-of-funds provision in the Virginia Fair Housing Law. That law prohibits housing providers, including larger landlords, from discriminating on the basis of the source of funds from which a tenant will pay rent. Virginia is one of at least 17 states to provide such protections.
Lucinda LC, an apartment management company, and its owner and property manager, June Wheatley, brought this proposed class action challenge on January 27, 2026, claiming that the source of funds provision as it relates to the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program violates their rights under the Fourth Amendment and the Supremacy Clause.
The Housing Choice Voucher program provides vital rent subsidies to low-income families, elderly residents, and individuals with disabilities in Virginia. It gives Virginians access to safe, affordable housing. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) data, over 48,000 low-income households in Virginia rely on Housing Choice Vouchers to help pay rent in the private market. Landlord refusal to accept Housing Choice Vouchers has long been an impediment to families securing housing, and in response, in 2020, Virginia added a source of income protection to its fair housing law.
Plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction and ultimately a permanent injunction stopping Virginia from enforcing its law, and on April 10, 2026, Relman Colfax Partner Rebecca Livengood argued in opposition to the preliminary injunction in the Eastern District of Virginia. The Court denied the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, finding that the Commonwealth was likely to succeed on its arguments that abstention was appropriate, that Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim was not ripe, and that Plaintiffs’ preemption claim was unlikely to succeed on the merits.
The Plaintiffs have appealed that ruling to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.