Every year in April, we commemorate the 55th anniversary of the signing of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by President Lyndon Johnson.
Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which included the FHA, was signed into law that April. Johnson signed the law creating the FHA one week after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as a tribute to King’s struggle for housing equality; the signing took place in April.
Over time, the scope of the Fair Housing Act has grown. Discrimination based on a person’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, or family situation is illegal in the housing market.
Housing-related activities, such as the sale or rental of housing, the provision of mortgages or housing aid, and other forms of discrimination, are prohibited by law.
Discrimination in housing and community development programs and activities, especially those assisted by HUD funding, is prohibited by a number of other federal civil rights laws, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Most homes are protected by the Fair Housing Act. The Act makes very few exceptions, including those for buildings with no more than four units that are owner-occupied, for single-family homes that are sold or rented out by the owner without the use of an agent, and for housing run by religious groups and private clubs that limit occupancy to members only.
The following content is referenced from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In the Sale and Rental of Housing:
It is illegal discrimination to take any of the following actions because of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, familial status, or national origin:
- Refuse to rent or sell housing
- Refuse to negotiate for housing
- Otherwise make housing unavailable
- Set different terms, conditions or privileges for sale or rental of a dwelling
- Provide a person different housing services or facilities
- Falsely deny that housing is available for inspection, sale or rental
- Make, print or publish any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination
- Impose different sales prices or rental charges for the sale or rental of a dwelling
- Use different qualification criteria or applications, or sale or rental standards or procedures, such as income standards, application requirements, application fees, credit analyses, sale or rental approval procedures or other requirements
- Evict a tenant or a tenant’s guest
- Harass a person
- Fail or delay performance of maintenance or repairs
- Limit privileges, services or facilities of a dwelling
- Discourage the purchase or rental of a dwelling
- Assign a person to a particular building or neighborhood or section of a building or neighborhood
- For profit, persuade, or try to persuade, homeowners to sell their homes by suggesting that people of a particular protected characteristic are about to move into the neighborhood (blockbusting)
- Refuse to provide or discriminate in the terms or conditions of homeowners insurance because of the race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, familial status, or national origin of the owner and/or occupants of a dwelling
- Deny access to or membership in any multiple listing service or real estate brokers’ organization
In Mortgage Lending:
It is illegal discrimination to take any of the following actions based on race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, familial status, or national origin:
- Refuse to make a mortgage loan or provide other financial assistance for a dwelling
- Refuse to provide information regarding loans
- Impose different terms or conditions on a loan, such as different interest rates, points, or fees
- Discriminate in appraising a dwelling
- Condition the availability of a loan on a person’s response to harassment
- Refuse to purchase a loan
Reference https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp
