Jamison Under Fire for Turning Away Section 8 Applicants

One of Los Angeles’ biggest landlords is largely shutting its doors to Section 8 renters, according to a new investigation.

Jamison routinely rejected tenants using federal housing vouchers at many of its buildings, Capital & Main reported. The findings say Jamison violated state law, which bars discrimination against Section 8 voucher holders in California.

Capital & Main, a Los Angeles-based independent news organization, hired testers posing as Section 8 voucher holders who contacted leasing agents at 65 buildings owned or operated by seven major landlords between late 2024 and early 2025. Of the 21 Jamison properties tested, agents at 15 said they did not accept Section 8 vouchers at all. At others, agents cited income or credit requirements that would effectively exclude voucher holders, or failed to follow up after initially suggesting vouchers might be accepted. Between 2021 and 2024, only one Section 8 tenant moved into a Jamison property, according to housing authority records obtained by Capital & Main.

Jamison said in a statement that its management companies “accept and welcome tenants utilizing Section 8 vouchers.” The firm called some issues found in the report “completely wrong and/or misleading,” though it did not specify which, according to Capital & Main.

State law prevents landlords from rejecting tenants based on source of income, including housing vouchers. Since January 2024, landlords have been legally barred from denying Section 8 applicants solely based on credit history and must consider alternative proof of ability to pay. Testers were reportedly told that Jamison buildings were awaiting “city approvals” or “inspections” before accepting vouchers, but the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles has no such approval or inspection process, Carlos Van Natter, the agency’s Section 8 director, told Capital & Main. “We would not inspect the whole building,” Van Natter said, noting that the body only inspects individual apartments to ensure livability after a landlord has accepted a tenant’s rental application.

Section 8 subsidizes rent for approximately 85,000 households in L.A. County through Housing Choice Vouchers. About 40 percent of voucher holders fail to secure housing before their assistance expires — typically 60 days — even after years of waiting, Natter said.

Jamison’s portfolio of about 6,000 units at 33 multifamily properties was largely built after 2013, exempting the firm from local rent control laws or the state’s maximum 10 percent per year limit on rent increases at those newer buildings.

— Chris Malone Méndez