Federal Fair Housing Act baseline plus Missouri-specific additions under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 213.040 (Missouri Human Rights Act).
Missouri has no statewide source-of-income law, but several cities/counties have local ordinances. Landlords must check the local ordinance where the rental unit is located before refusing a voucher.
Federal classes apply uniformly. The classes shaded green below are Missouri-specific additions under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 213.040 (Missouri Human Rights Act).
No SO/GI statewide; St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia have local fair-housing ordinances.
The first question most Missouri landlords ask is whether they can turn down a Section 8 voucher, and here the answer turns on geography. Missouri has no statewide source-of-income law, so refusing a housing voucher is generally lawful — but St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia have enacted local fair-housing ordinances, and a landlord must check the local ordinance before refusing Section 8. A blanket "no vouchers" policy that is fine in a rural county can be an enforceable violation a few miles inside a covered city limit.
Everything else flows from one statute: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 213.040, the Missouri Human Rights Act, enforced by the Missouri Commission on Human Rights. It mirrors the federal Fair Housing Act and adds one protected class of its own — ancestry. With average rent in Missouri around $854, screening and advertising mistakes are easy to make and expensive to defend, so it pays to know exactly who the law protects.
Fair housing in Missouri runs through Mo. Rev. Stat. § 213.040, the housing provision of the Missouri Human Rights Act. It bars refusing to rent, setting different terms, or making discriminatory statements based on a protected characteristic. Enforcement sits with the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, the state agency that takes complaints, investigates, and attempts conciliation before a matter escalates.
Because the Act tracks the federal Fair Housing Act, conduct that violates state law usually violates federal law too, and a tenant can complain to the state commission, to HUD, or pursue the matter in court. For a small landlord that means a single rejected applicant can trigger parallel investigations, so the safer practice is to apply written, consistent screening criteria to every applicant and document the reason for every denial.
Federal law protects seven classes everywhere in Missouri: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Familial status covers households with children under 18 and pregnant tenants; disability includes a duty to allow reasonable accommodations and modifications, such as a service or assistance animal even under a no-pets policy.
Missouri's Human Rights Act adds one class beyond the federal floor: ancestry. In practice ancestry overlaps with national origin but reaches discrimination tied to a person's lineage or ethnic descent even where their own birthplace is not the issue. That brings the count to eight protected classes statewide. Note what is not on the statewide list — sexual orientation and gender identity — which is where local ordinances and federal interpretation come into play.
There is no statewide protection for sexual orientation or gender identity under the Missouri Human Rights Act. The recent reality is that these protections exist locally: St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia have their own fair-housing ordinances that reach further than state law, both on these characteristics and, in some cases, on source of income.
This is the trap that catches owners with scattered units. The same rental policy can be perfectly legal in an unincorporated county and unlawful inside a covered city. Federal law adds another layer: since 2021, HUD has read the Fair Housing Act's ban on sex discrimination, after the Supreme Court's Bostock decision, to include sexual orientation and gender identity. So even outside the three named cities, a landlord cannot safely treat these as unprotected — verify the rule for each property's specific jurisdiction.
Most Missouri fair-housing complaints are not slammed doors — they are wording. Advertising that says "perfect for a single professional," "no children," or "adult building" signals familial-status discrimination even when no one is turned away. Steering, telling a family with kids that an upstairs unit "wouldn't be a good fit," carries the same exposure.
Two recurring mistakes deserve attention. First, denying a reasonable accommodation — refusing an assistance animal or a request to pay rent on a different schedule tied to a disability benefit — is itself a violation under § 213.040. Second, a flat "no Section 8" line in an ad can be unlawful inside St. Louis, Kansas City, or Columbia even though it is allowed statewide. The single most common avoidable error is copying a screening policy from a property in one city to a property in another without checking that city's ordinance. Write your criteria down, apply them identically, and confirm the local rule before you publish a listing.
Fair-housing complaint rates correlate with overall tenant-protection enforcement. View landlord risk and tenant-law profile by city:
This page summarizes housing-discrimination rules under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 213.040 (Missouri Human Rights Act), enforced by the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, alongside the federal Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 3604). Local ordinances in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia may add protections beyond state law. Last reviewed June 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; consult a licensed Missouri attorney or the relevant agency about your specific situation.
Generally yes — Missouri has no statewide source-of-income law, so a landlord can usually decline a housing voucher. The major exception is local ordinances: St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia have their own fair-housing rules, and some local protections can make refusing a voucher unlawful. Always check the specific city or county ordinance for the property before rejecting an applicant solely because they hold a voucher.
Eight statewide. Missouri's Human Rights Act (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 213.040) protects the seven federal classes — race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability — and adds one more: ancestry. Local ordinances in cities like St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia can protect additional characteristics, so the effective list is longer inside those jurisdictions.
Not under statewide law. The Missouri Human Rights Act does not list sexual orientation or gender identity. However, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Columbia protect them through local ordinances, and since 2021 HUD has interpreted the federal Fair Housing Act's ban on sex discrimination — following the Supreme Court's Bostock decision — to include both. A landlord should not assume these are unprotected anywhere in the state.
The Missouri Commission on Human Rights enforces the Missouri Human Rights Act. A tenant files a complaint, the commission investigates and attempts conciliation, and unresolved matters can proceed to a hearing or court. Tenants may also file with HUD or sue in federal court. Remedies can include actual damages, injunctive relief, and federal civil penalties, plus a landlord's own legal costs.
Federal authority: 42 U.S.C. § 3604; 24 C.F.R. Part 100. State authority: Mo. Rev. Stat. § 213.040 (Missouri Human Rights Act). Last updated July 14, 2026. For informational purposes only, not legal advice. Fair-housing determinations are highly fact-specific; consult a licensed Missouri attorney before making a screening, denial, or eviction decision.
