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  1. Justice.gov
• Civil Liberty Division
• The Fair Housing Act
  
  The Fair Housing Act
  
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  The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq., prohibits discrimination by direct companies of housing, such as proprietors and genuine estate business in addition to other entities, such as towns, banks or other loan provider and house owners insurance provider whose prejudiced practices make housing unavailable to persons because of:
  
  race or color. faith. sex. national origin. familial status, or. impairment.
  
  In cases involving discrimination in mortgage loans or home improvement loans, the Department may file match under both the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. The Department brings cases where there is evidence of a pattern or practice of discrimination or where a denial of rights to a group of persons raises a problem of general public importance. Where force or hazard of force is utilized to reject or disrupt fair housing rights, the Department of Justice might institute criminal proceedings. The Fair Housing Act likewise supplies treatments for handling individual complaints of discrimination. Individuals who believe that they have been victims of an unlawful housing practice, might file a grievance with the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] or file their own claim in federal or state court. The Department of Justice brings fits on behalf of people based upon referrals from HUD.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Race or Color
  
  Among the main objectives of the Fair Housing Act, when Congress enacted it in 1968, was to restrict race discrimination in sales and leasings of housing. Nevertheless, more than thirty years later, race discrimination in housing continues to be a problem. The majority of the Justice Department's pattern or practice cases include claims of race discrimination. Sometimes, housing service providers attempt to camouflage their discrimination by offering incorrect details about accessibility of housing, either saying that nothing was offered or steering homeseekers to particular locations based on race. Individuals who receive such incorrect information or misdirection may have no knowledge that they have actually been victims of discrimination. The Department of Justice has actually brought lots of cases declaring this sort of discrimination based upon race or color. In addition, the Department's Fair Housing Testing Program looks for to uncover this sort of covert discrimination and hold those responsible liable. Most of the mortgage financing cases brought by the Department under the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act have actually alleged discrimination based upon race or color. Some of the Department's cases have also alleged that municipalities and other city government entities broke the Fair Housing Act when they rejected licenses or zoning changes for housing developments, or relegated them to primarily minority neighborhoods, because the potential residents were expected to be mainly African-Americans.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Religion
  
  The Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination in housing based upon faith. This restriction covers instances of overt discrimination against members of a specific religion too less direct actions, such as zoning regulations created to limit the use of personal homes as a locations of praise. The number of cases submitted given that 1968 alleging religious discrimination is small in contrast to some of the other restricted bases, such as race or national origin. The Act does consist of a limited exception that enables non-commercial housing run by a religious organization to reserve such housing to persons of the very same religion.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Sex, Including Sexual Harassment
  
  The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate in housing on the basis of sex. In current years, the Department's focus in this area has actually been to challenge sexual harassment in housing. Women, especially those who are poor, and with restricted housing choices, typically have little option but to tolerate the embarrassment and deterioration of sexual harassment or threat having their households and themselves removed from their homes. The Department's enforcement program is aimed at landlords who produce an illogical living environment by requiring sexual favors from tenants or by creating a sexually hostile environment for them. In this way we seek both to obtain relief for occupants who have been treated unjustly by a property manager due to the fact that of sex and also hinder other potential abusers by making it clear that they can not continue their conduct without dealing with consequences. In addition, prices discrimination in mortgage financing may also negatively affect women, especially ladies. This kind of discrimination is illegal under both the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon National Origin
  
  The Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination based upon nationwide origin. Such discrimination can be based either upon the country of a person's birth or where his/her ancestors stem. Census data indicate that the Hispanic population is the fastest growing section of our nation's population. The Justice Department has actually taken enforcement action against local governments that have actually tried to minimize or limit the variety of Hispanic households that may live in their communities. We have actually taken legal action against lenders under both the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act when they have actually enforced more stringent underwriting requirements on mortgage or made loans on less favorable terms for Hispanic borrowers. The Department has actually also sued lenders for discrimination versus Native Americans. Other locations of the country have actually experienced an increasing variety of nationwide origin groups within their populations. This includes new immigrants from Southeastern Asia, such as the Hmong, the previous Soviet Union, and other portions of Eastern Europe. We have actually taken action versus private landlords who have actually victimized such people.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Familial Status
  
  The Fair Housing Act, with some exceptions, prohibits discrimination in housing versus families with kids under 18. In addition to forbiding a straight-out rejection of housing to families with kids, the Act also avoids housing service providers from imposing any unique requirements or conditions on renters with custody of kids. For instance, landlords might not find households with children in any single portion of a complex, position an unreasonable constraint on the overall number of individuals who may live in a home, or limit their access to recreational services supplied to other occupants. In many circumstances, the modified Fair Housing Act restricts a housing company from refusing to lease or sell to families with kids. However, some facilities may be designated as Housing for Older Persons (55 years of age). This kind of housing, which meets the requirements stated in the Housing for Older Persons Act of 1995, may run as "senior" housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released policies and extra assistance detailing these statutory requirements.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability
  
  The Fair Housing Act restricts discrimination on the basis of impairment in all types of housing transactions. The Act defines individuals with a disability to indicate those people with mental or physical disabilities that significantly restrict one or more major life activities. The term mental or physical disability may include conditions such as blindness, hearing disability, movement impairment, HIV infection, psychological retardation, alcoholism, drug addiction, chronic tiredness, finding out impairment, head injury, and mental disorder. The term significant life activity may consist of seeing, hearing, walking, breathing, performing manual tasks, looking after one's self, finding out, speaking, or working. The Fair Housing Act also safeguards persons who have a record of such a disability, or are related to as having such an impairment. Current users of unlawful illegal drugs, individuals founded guilty for prohibited manufacture or circulation of a controlled substance, sex offenders, and juvenile offenders are not considered handicapped under the Fair Housing Act, by virtue of that status. The Fair Housing Act affords no protections to people with or without specials needs who present a direct hazard to the individuals or residential or commercial property of others. Determining whether someone poses such a direct risk must be made on an individualized basis, however, and can not be based on basic presumptions or speculation about the nature of an impairment. The Division's enforcement of the Fair Housing Act's defenses for persons with disabilities has concentrated on 2 significant areas. One is insuring that zoning and other policies concerning land use are not utilized to prevent the residential choices of these people, including unnecessarily limiting communal, or congregate, residential plans, such as group homes. The second location is guaranteeing that freshly constructed multifamily housing is constructed in accordance with the Fair Housing Act's ease of access requirements so that it is accessible to and functional by individuals with impairments, and, in specific, those who utilize wheelchairs. There are other federal statutes that forbid discrimination against people with disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is imposed by the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability Group Homes
  
  Some people with disabilities may cohabit in congregate living plans, often described as "group homes." The Fair Housing Act prohibits towns and other regional federal government entities from making zoning or land usage choices or executing land usage policies that exclude or otherwise victimize individuals with specials needs. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful--
  
  - To make use of land usage policies or actions that treat groups of persons with specials needs less positively than groups of non-disabled persons. An example would be a regulation restricting housing for persons with impairments or a specific type of disability, such as mental disorder, from locating in a particular area, while permitting other groups of unassociated individuals to cohabit in that location.
• To act against, or reject a permit, for a home due to the fact that of the disability of individuals who live or would live there. An example would be rejecting a structure authorization for a home since it was planned to offer housing for persons with mental retardation.
• To refuse to make affordable lodgings in land use and zoning policies and procedures where such lodgings might be required to pay for persons or groups of individuals with disabilities an equivalent opportunity to use and delight in housing. What makes up an affordable lodging is a case-by-case decision. Not all requested adjustments of guidelines or policies are reasonable. If an asked for modification enforces an excessive financial or administrative concern on a local federal government, or if an adjustment produces a basic alteration in a city government's land usage and zoning scheme, it is not a "reasonable" accommodation.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability-- Accessibility Features for New Construction
  
  The Fair Housing Act defines discrimination in housing against persons with impairments to include a failure "to create and construct" certain new multi-family residences so that they are available to and usable by individuals with disabilities, and particularly individuals who utilize wheelchairs. The Act requires all newly constructed multi-family houses of four or more systems planned for first occupancy after March 13, 1991, to have particular functions: an accessible entryway on an accessible route, accessible typical and public use locations, doors sufficiently large to accommodate wheelchairs, accessible paths into and through each house, light switches, electric outlets, and thermostats in accessible location, reinforcements in bathroom walls to accommodate grab bar setups, and usable kitchens and restrooms configured so that a wheelchair can navigate about the space.
  
  Developers, contractors, owners, and designers responsible for the design or construction of new multi-family housing may be held liable under the Fair Housing Act if their buildings fail to meet these design requirements. The Department of Justice has actually brought lots of enforcement actions versus those who failed to do so. Most of the cases have been fixed by permission decrees providing a range of kinds of relief, consisting of: retrofitting to bring inaccessible features into compliance where feasible and where it is not-- options (financial funds or other building and construction requirements) that will supply for making other housing systems available