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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., forbids discrimination by direct companies of housing, such as property owners and realty companies as well as other entities, such as municipalities, banks or other loan provider and property owners insurance provider whose prejudiced practices make housing unavailable to individuals because of:
  
  race or color. religion. sex. national origin. familial status, or. special needs.
  
  In cases including discrimination in mortgage loans or home improvement loans, the Department might submit match under both the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. The Department brings cases where there is proof of a pattern or practice of discrimination or where a denial of rights to a group of individuals raises a problem of public significance. Where force or risk of force is used to reject or disrupt reasonable housing rights, the Department of Justice may set up criminal procedures. The Fair Housing Act likewise supplies treatments for handling specific problems of discrimination. Individuals who think that they have actually been victims of an unlawful housing practice, might file a grievance with the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] or file their own lawsuit in federal or state court. The Department of Justice brings fits on behalf of people based upon recommendations from HUD.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Race or Color
  
  Among the central objectives of the Fair Housing Act, when Congress enacted it in 1968, was to prohibit race discrimination in sales and rentals of housing. Nevertheless, more than 30 years later on, race discrimination in housing continues to be an issue. Most of the Justice Department's pattern or practice cases include claims of race discrimination. Sometimes, housing suppliers attempt to disguise their discrimination by providing incorrect details about availability of housing, either stating that absolutely nothing was offered or steering homeseekers to particular locations based upon race. Individuals who receive such false details or misdirection may have no understanding that they have been victims of discrimination. The Department of Justice has brought many cases declaring this sort of discrimination based upon race or color. In addition, the Department's Fair Housing Testing Program seeks to discover this type of hidden discrimination and hold those responsible liable. Most of the mortgage loaning cases brought by the Department under the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act have declared discrimination based on race or color. A few of the Department's cases have also alleged that municipalities and other local government entities violated the Fair Housing Act when they denied permits or zoning changes for housing advancements, or relegated them to mainly minority areas, because the prospective homeowners were expected to be primarily African-Americans.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Religion
  
  The Fair Housing Act restricts discrimination in housing based upon religion. This prohibition covers instances of obvious discrimination against members of a particular religion too less direct actions, such as zoning regulations designed to restrict making use of personal homes as a locations of praise. The number of cases filed given that 1968 alleging spiritual discrimination is little in comparison to a few of the other forbidden bases, such as race or national origin. The Act does include a minimal exception that enables non-commercial housing run by a spiritual company to reserve such housing to individuals of the same faith.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Sex, Including Unwanted Sexual Advances
  
  The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate in housing on the basis of sex. Recently, the Department's focus in this area has been to challenge unwanted sexual advances in housing. Women, particularly those who are bad, and with restricted housing choices, frequently have little option but to tolerate the embarrassment and degradation of sexual harassment or risk having their families and themselves got rid of from their homes. The Department's enforcement program is intended at property owners who develop an illogical living environment by demanding sexual favors from renters or by producing a sexually hostile environment for them. In this way we look for both to obtain relief for tenants who have been treated unfairly by a property manager because of sex and also discourage other potential abusers by making it clear that they can not continue their conduct without facing effects. In addition, rates discrimination in mortgage loaning may also adversely affect ladies, particularly minority ladies. This kind of discrimination is unlawful 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 or her ancestors originated. Census information show that the Hispanic population is the fastest growing section of our country's population. The Justice Department has actually taken enforcement action versus local governments that have actually tried to lower or restrict the variety of Hispanic families that may reside in their communities. We have sued lenders under both the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act when they have imposed more stringent underwriting standards on mortgage or made loans on less favorable terms for Hispanic debtors. The Department has also sued lenders for discrimination versus Native Americans. Other areas of the nation have actually experienced an increasing diversity of nationwide origin groups within their populations. This consists of brand-new immigrants from Southeastern Asia, such as the Hmong, the former Soviet Union, and other portions of Eastern Europe. We have actually taken action versus personal proprietors who have actually victimized such individuals.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Familial Status
  
  The Fair Housing Act, with some exceptions, prohibits discrimination in housing against households with kids under 18. In addition to forbiding an outright rejection of housing to households with children, the Act also prevents housing companies from imposing any unique requirements or conditions on occupants with custody of kids. For instance, landlords might not find households with kids in any single part of a complex, position an unreasonable limitation on the overall variety of persons who may live in a dwelling, or restrict their access to recreational services offered to other tenants. In the majority of circumstances, the modified Fair Housing Act restricts a housing service provider from refusing to lease or sell to households with kids. However, some facilities might be designated as Housing for Older Persons (55 years of age). This kind of housing, which meets the standards set forth in the Housing for Older Persons Act of 1995, might run as "senior" housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published regulations and additional assistance detailing these statutory requirements.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability
  
  The Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination on the basis of disability in all types of housing transactions. The Act specifies individuals with a disability to indicate those individuals with psychological or physical disabilities that substantially restrict several significant life activities. The term psychological or physical impairment might consist of conditions such as blindness, hearing impairment, mobility impairment, HIV infection, mental retardation, alcohol addiction, drug dependency, persistent fatigue, learning special needs, head injury, and mental disorder. The term major life activity might include seeing, hearing, strolling, breathing, carrying out manual jobs, looking after one's self, finding out, speaking, or working. The Fair Housing Act also safeguards persons who have a record of such an impairment, or are regarded as having such a problems. Current users of prohibited illegal drugs, individuals convicted for illegal manufacture or distribution of an illegal drug, sex wrongdoers, and juvenile culprits are ruled out handicapped under the Fair Housing Act, by virtue of that status. The Fair Housing Act manages no securities to people with or without specials needs who present a direct danger to the persons or residential or commercial property of others. Determining whether someone poses such a direct risk must be made on a personalized basis, nevertheless, and can not be based upon general assumptions or speculation about the nature of a disability. The Division's enforcement of the Fair Housing Act's securities for persons with disabilities has focused on two major locations. One is insuring that zoning and other guidelines concerning land use are not used to prevent the residential options of these people, consisting of unnecessarily restricting common, or gather together, domestic arrangements, such as group homes. The second location is insuring that freshly built multifamily housing is constructed in accordance with the Fair Housing Act's accessibility requirements so that it is accessible to and usable by people with disabilities, and, in particular, those who use wheelchairs. There are other federal statutes that restrict discrimination versus individuals with disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is implemented by the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability Group Homes
  
  Some individuals with impairments may cohabit in congregate living arrangements, often described as "group homes." The Fair Housing Act restricts municipalities and other city government entities from making zoning or land use decisions or implementing land use policies that exclude or otherwise discriminate against individuals with disabilities. The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal--
  
  - To use land use policies or actions that deal with groups of individuals with disabilities less favorably than groups of non-disabled individuals. An example would be a regulation restricting housing for individuals with specials needs or a specific kind of special needs, such as mental disorder, from finding in a specific area, while enabling other groups of unassociated individuals to live together in that location.
• To take action versus, or reject a license, for a home because of the impairment of people who live or would live there. An example would be denying a building permit for a home because it was planned to supply housing for persons with mental retardation.
• To decline to make affordable lodgings in land use and zoning policies and treatments where such accommodations may be required to afford persons or groups of persons with impairments a level playing field to use and delight in housing. What makes up an affordable accommodation is a case-by-case determination. Not all requested modifications of guidelines or policies are sensible. If an asked for modification enforces an excessive monetary or administrative concern on a city government, or if a modification creates an essential alteration in a local federal government's land usage and zoning plan, 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 specials needs to include a failure "to design and construct" particular new multi-family homes so that they are available to and functional by persons with specials needs, and especially individuals who utilize wheelchairs. The Act requires all newly built multi-family residences of four or more units planned for very first occupancy after March 13, 1991, to have certain features: an available entryway on an accessible path, accessible typical and public use locations, doors sufficiently large to accommodate wheelchairs, accessible routes into and through each home, light switches, electrical outlets, and in available place, supports in bathroom walls to accommodate grab bar installations, and functional cooking areas and bathrooms configured so that a wheelchair can steer about the area.
  
  Developers, contractors, owners, and designers responsible for the design or construction of brand-new multi-family housing might be held responsible under the Fair Housing Act if their structures stop working to meet these style requirements. The Department of Justice has actually brought many enforcement actions against those who failed to do so. The majority of the cases have been dealt with by permission decrees supplying a range of types of relief, including: retrofitting to bring unattainable functions into compliance where feasible and where it is not-- alternatives (monetary funds or other building requirements) that will offer for making other housing units available