Federal Fair Housing Act baseline plus Nebraska-specific additions under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 20-318 (Nebraska Fair Housing Act).
Nebraska has no source-of-income protection at the state level and no major local SOI ordinance has been verified. Landlords statewide may decline Section 8 voucher applicants for reason of payment source alone, but cannot use voucher status as a pretext for discrimination based on a protected class such as race, family status, or disability.
Federal classes apply uniformly. The classes shaded green below are Nebraska-specific additions under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 20-318 (Nebraska Fair Housing Act).
Nebraska mirrors federal FHA + ancestry.
Start with the question most Nebraska landlords ask first: can you turn away a Section 8 applicant because of the voucher? Yes — Nebraska has no source-of-income protection, so a landlord may decline a housing choice voucher for the payment source alone. That answer comes with a sharp edge, though. The refusal must genuinely be about the payment source; the moment a voucher denial functions as a stand-in for race, disability, familial status, or any other protected class, it becomes ordinary housing discrimination with federal exposure attached.
The governing state law is Neb. Rev. Stat. § 20-318 (Nebraska Fair Housing Act), enforced by the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission. Nebraska mirrors the seven federal Fair Housing Act classes and adds exactly one of its own — ancestry — giving landlords here eight categories they can never screen on.
The Nebraska Fair Housing Act tracks the federal statute almost line for line — race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status — then adds ancestry as an eighth protected class. Ancestry overlaps with national origin but is not identical to it: national origin points to the country a person or their family came from, while ancestry reaches a person's lineage and descent even when no specific foreign country is in play. In practice, the addition closes a gap. A landlord who screens against applicants because of a family surname, an ethnic heritage, or perceived descent can face a state claim under § 20-318 even where a federal national-origin theory would be harder to frame. For everyday operations, treat the two as one rule: heritage, in any form, is off the table as a screening factor.
Fair housing complaints in Nebraska run through two doors. The Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission takes complaints under the state Act, and HUD takes complaints under the federal Fair Housing Act. Because Nebraska's statute mirrors the federal one plus ancestry, conduct that violates one almost always violates both — a tenant does not have to choose the "right" agency to reach you. A few practical consequences for landlords:
Most Nebraska fair-housing trouble starts in casual language, not deliberate bias. Ads that say "perfect for a single professional" or "quiet adult building" signal familial-status discrimination against families with children. "No kids upstairs" framed as a safety concern is still a familial-status violation. Mentioning a nearby church as a selling point edges into religious steering; "English speakers preferred" implicates national origin and Nebraska's ancestry class at once. On the screening side, the most common miss is disability: an assistance-animal request must be evaluated as a reasonable accommodation even under a strict no-pets policy, and a flat refusal is one of the most frequently charged violations there is. Advertise the unit, not the tenant you are imagining — square footage, rent, terms — and put every applicant through the identical written checklist.
With an average rent of $829, Nebraska is one of the least expensive rental markets in the country, and voucher applicants show up regularly in its cities and college towns. State law gives you the choice: participate in Section 8 or decline it. If you decline, do it the safe way. State the reason in writing as the payment source, apply that policy to every voucher holder identically, and keep the rest of your criteria untouched — a landlord who "doesn't take vouchers" only from certain applicants has converted a lawful business decision into evidence of pretext. Two more checks before you rely on the statewide default: confirm your city has not adopted a local source-of-income ordinance of its own, and remember that a federally assisted or tax-credit property may carry program rules that override your preference entirely.
Fair-housing complaint rates correlate with overall tenant-protection enforcement. View landlord risk and tenant-law profile by city:
This guide was researched and written by the Eviction Risk Map research team based on Neb. Rev. Stat. § 20-318 (Nebraska Fair Housing Act), materials from the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, and the federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604. Last reviewed July 2026. This page is general information for landlords and renters, not legal advice; consult a Nebraska attorney about a specific dispute or screening policy.
Yes. Nebraska has no source-of-income protection, so a landlord may decline an applicant because rent would be paid with a housing choice voucher. The refusal must be genuinely about the payment source, applied uniformly to every voucher holder. Turning away vouchers selectively — say, only from families with children or applicants of a particular background — converts a legal business decision into a protected-class violation under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 20-318 and the federal Fair Housing Act.
Eight. Nebraska mirrors the seven federal Fair Housing Act classes — race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status — and adds one state class, ancestry, under the Nebraska Fair Housing Act. Ancestry reaches discrimination based on lineage or descent even where a national-origin claim would not fit cleanly.
Nebraska's statute does not list them as separate state classes, but they are protected anyway through federal law. Since 2021, HUD has read the federal Fair Housing Act's ban on sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity, following the Supreme Court's Bostock reasoning. A Nebraska landlord who rejects an applicant on either basis faces a federal complaint regardless of what the state statute says.
Two ways. Tenants can file with the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission under the state Act or with HUD under the federal Fair Housing Act — and because the two laws mirror each other, most conduct violates both. Investigations can rely on tester evidence, and violations can carry actual damages plus federal civil penalties. Written screening criteria applied identically to every applicant are a landlord's strongest protection.
Federal authority: 42 U.S.C. § 3604; 24 C.F.R. Part 100. State authority: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 20-318 (Nebraska Fair Housing Act). Last updated July 14, 2026. For informational purposes only, not legal advice. Fair-housing determinations are highly fact-specific; consult a licensed Nebraska attorney before making a screening, denial, or eviction decision.
