The Fair Housing Act (FHA) is a federal law that prohibits the following:
- Discriminatory advertising
- Refusing to show, rent, lease, sell or transfer housing
- Refusing to receive or transmit an offer to buy, rent, or lease housing
- Causing unequal terms, conditions, and privileges of housing, including the use of financial assistance for the purchase, construction, or maintenance of housing
- Segregation and/or separation in housing
- Aiding and abetting in unfair housing practices or preventing any person from complying with fair housing practices
You can find out more from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Website.
If you, as an individual or family, are seeking housing, it is your right as a consumer to choose where you want to live, without the limitations imposed by illegal housing discrimination.
The Fair Housing Act protects individuals from discrimination based on:
- Sex (sexual orientation/gender identity when stereotyping in a discriminatory fashion based on sex or gender roles. Also see below.*)
- Race
- Color
- Religion
- Disability (mental and physical)
- Familial Status (generally children under 18)
- National Origin
The term “housing” includes apartments, condominiums, duplexes, multi-unit dwellings, mobile homes/trailer courts, private homes, vacant land, and traditional housing.
*In HUD-funded housing and lending programs, persons are protected from housing discrimination based on sexual orientation (SO) and gender identity (GI).
