Housing Search Housing Discrimination

Sponsored Content

Written by Monica Lopez

What does housing discrimination look like when searching for a home?

Under the Fair Housing Act, discrimination pertaining to the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status is illegal. What many don’t know is that housing discrimination takes on many forms. In some cases, it takes on an overt form of disparate treatment, while in other situations, it can remain covert within policies, practices or procedures. In this article, we will uncover what housing discrimination may look like throughout the housing search process.

How Does Housing Discrimination Happen When Looking for a New Home?

Discrimination when searching for a new housing situation whether during the pre-application stage or while applying for a home, is not as obvious as most may assume. In fact, discrimination that happens in these situations is more often covert and undetectable unless thoroughly investigated.

Discrimination when Seeking a Home– Some acts of discrimination happen before a person has an opportunity to view or apply for a unit. For instance, there may be discriminatory ads that specifically exclude protected groups from renting, for example: “No Section 8” or “No Children”. It is illegal to make, print, publish, or cause to be made, printed, or publish, any notice, statement, or advertisement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference or limitation.
Another discrimination issue is that of the spread of misinformation from landlord or property management to tenants when requesting access to housing or unit availability. Instances of such subliminal discrimination include phrases such as:“I understand you called earlier today, and I am sorry you came all the way down here. We just rented our last unit and will not have another unit for months”. Although renting a unit is often based on probability, fair housing investigations have found that information provided is not always true, and units are more often available than disclosed to people of certain races, national origins, or other protected groups. With this in mind, under the fair housing act, it is illegal to falsely deny housing when it is in fact available due to racial, economic, or any bias against a potential tenant. In addition to falsifying information, steering, which in the context of renting a home, happens when prospective renters are told they must reside at certain properties, should, “try looking at other communities,” or are forced to a specific area of a property. Situations like these are often communicated in exchanges stating, “You say you are disabled and need a first-floor unit, sorry but our site is not wheelchair accessible, but you can try the community next door which has accessible units.” It is unlawful for a housing provider to steer a person with a disability to another community because they are asking for a reasonable accommodation or modification. Although a property may not be considered accessible, or is exempt from accessibility requirements, it is required by law to allow a person with a disability to reside so long as certain conditions are met regarding accessibility.

Housing Discrimination at Preapplication– In certain cases, a person makes it to the property and is able to view housing units, but when it comes to receiving or filling out application things turn sour. Being discouraged from renting while applying can be a form of discrimination, for example: “I am glad you like our community, but you should know that we are a very exclusive community with the strictest credit requirements, so if you have any credit issues you should not waste your time and money applying” or “The unit for rent is on a very busy street and would be dangerous for your kids.” Often, a simple comment can seem harmless or cautionary to most housing seekers, but through investigations, fair housing organizations have uncovered that these comments are being used as a way to deter certain persons due to their race, national origin, familial status, disability, or other protected status. Discrimination in the preapplication stage can also present itself in the fine print of the terms and conditions. There are many communities that have unlawful rental criteria that violate fair housing laws, for example: “Our occupancy standards only allow one child under the age of 2 years to reside in the unit with their parents.” On this note, occupancy standards cannot dictate how many minors may live in a home, nor the relationship to the adult household member. In fact, limiting the number of children, placing restrictions on children based on their age or gender, and requiring a biological relationship to a minor is unlawful. Under the Fair Housing Act, using different qualification criteria for applying specific criteria to a select few is unlawful.

Housing Discrimination During the Processing of Applying- There have been instances where housing discrimination takes place when a person applies and is awaiting a response of approval. Although there are situations where an applicant is not selected due to their inability to meet the rental criterion, some cases present unjustifiable parameters as a way of preventing certain persons from moving into the community. For example, “I am sorry, we are unable to rent to you because of your service animal. Our insurance company will not cover certain breeds,” or, “The owners decided to rent to a single person because families with kids have been an issue for him in the past.” Fair Housing agencies throughout the nation have encountered these types of scenarios or similar instances for varying protected groups. Another impediment that may occur when processing a rental application is the presence of discriminatory terms and conditions. For instance, being told your application to rent will only be accepted if an additional deposit is paid falls under the aforementioned category. Although housing providers are allowed to base the security deposit on justifiable business reasons, in some situations, it is prohibited and considered a discriminatory agreement. For example, “All families with children are required to pay an additional deposit to cover extra wear and tear on the unit,” or, “Your wheelchair will likely cause damage to the flooring, so we will need to increase your deposit to cover this expense.” Asking families with children or a person with a disability to pay more based on a purported issue is considered a form of discrimination. Sexual harassment is yet another form of housing discrimination that can take place at the application stage. This can include a person being asked for sexual favors in exchange for the housing unit they are seeking or being asked to go out on a date in exchange for a discount on move-in. For example, “You know your credit is really not the best, but if you come by my place tonight, you can make it up and I will rent you the unit,” or, “I like you and want to rent you the unit, but first I would like to get to know you better over dinner.” Forcing a person into unwanted acts or requiring unwanted requests for sexual favors is illegal.

Housing providers and renters should stay informed and know their rights and responsibilities. CSA is a HUD Approved Housing Counseling nonprofit agency that works to prevent and eliminate fair housing discrimination by enforcing fair housing laws, promoting fair housing outreach and education, and ensuring equal housing opportunities for protected classes.

To learn more about fair housing or to obtain assistance with a housing issue, contact CSA Phone: 619-444-5700, TTY: 1-800- 735-2929, Email: outreach@c4sa.org

Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of HUD. This material is based on work supported by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)underFHIPGrantFEOI210047.