The Fair Housing Act
Instituted in 1968 by then president Lyndon Baines Johnson, the Fair Housing Act was designed to bar any form of discrimination in the rental or purchase of homes and apartments and outlaw a number of other related housing issues, including advertising, mortgage lending, homeowner's insurance, and zoning.
The Fair Housing Act was originally designed to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion and national origin, but in 1974 it extended to protect individuals against sexual discrimination as well. The act was amended once more, in 1988, to include disability and familial status (meaning, whether or not children under 18 will be living in the house).
After the passage of the 1991 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a different set of protections and fair housing laws came into effect for those with a permanent disability. They include:
- Insuring that a landlord will let a tenant make reasonable changes for accessibility, at their expense (such as grab rails or other modifications for the mobility-impaired)
- Insuring that a landlord will waive certain rules for the disabled (such as allowing a seeing-eye dog in a “no pets” apartment)
The ADA also lays down construction regulations for new apartments, such as hallways wide enough for wheelchairs, wheelchair-friendly entrances, light switches and thermostats that are accessible and bathroom walls that are reinforced well enough to allow for grab bars.
Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is responsible for administering and enforcing the Fair Housing Act. They cover and manage all housing issues, with the exception of "owner-occupied buildings with no more than four unites, single-family housing sold or rented without the use of a broker, and housing operated by organizations and private clubs that limit occupancy to members."
What does the Fair Housing Act Prohibit?
The Fair Housing Act makes it such that no one may do any of the following because of an individual's race, color, origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability:
- Refuse to rent or sell a house
- Refuse to negotiate on a house
- Make housing unavailable
- Set individualized terms, conditions or privileges for sale or rental of a house or apartment
- Falsely deny a dwelling's availability
- Refuse to make a mortgage loan
- Refuse to provide information regarding loans
- Impose different loan terms
- Set different times or conditions for purchasing a loan
Disability Protection
If you or someone associated with your living situation has a physical or mental disability that substantially limits daily activities, your landlord may not refuse to let you make the proper amendments and improvements to the home to make the disabled individual's life more manageable or refuse accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services.
This means, for example, that a "no pet" policy is negated if the individual renting the apartment is blind and needs a seeing-eye dog.
If You're a Victim of a Violation
If you think that you've been a victim of a violation of the Fair Housing Act you'll want to file a complaint with the HUD Office. Report your name and address, the name and address of the violator, a short description of what occurred, and the date of the violation by filling out a Housing Discrimination Complaint Form.