The Fair Housing Act Prohibits Discrimination

Today I want to talk about the federal laws regarding housing discrimination. They are actually about eliminating discrimination when people want to buy a home. This topic is really important. To start with, Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act), prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of dwellings based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. This was amended in 1988 to include discrimination because of disabilities or family status. At the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, the latest Fair Housing Act directive is spelled out, including how to file complaints and criminal penalties.

What are the exceptions? Who is exempt from following these laws when selling their property to someone?

There is an exception to the family status (children or pregnant women in the family) which is based on the Housing for Older Persons Act of 1995 (HOPA). To qualify for the exception, the housing development must advertise that it is for older adults and there must be a person who is 55 years of age or older living in at least 80% of the occupied units. If you want more information about the "older people" exception, it's available in the Federal Register for Friday, April 2, 1999.

Religious organizations and private clubs can still limit their property to just their own members as long as the restriction is only based on religion or club membership. Also exempt is someone selling their own home as long as that person doesn't own more than three homes at a time. Another exemption is an owner who lives in a unit of a fourplex or smaller.

However, if the person or property doesn’t fit into any of these categories, he or she does not have to worry about discriminating against someone who has been convicted of illegally manufacturing or selling "controlled substances" (drugs). It is okay to not sell their property to someone like that.

Now that we've talked about exemptions, let's talk about what the Fair Housing Act basically means. Ignore the exceptions for now. Let's say I'm a Colorado real estate broker, which I'm going to be some day, and someone comes in to buy or sell a house.

Let's take two imaginary people. We'll call them Jang and Vanar, using names from a "neutral baby name" site. We will say that they are two people, but beyond that I don't know anything about them: their genders, ages, nationalities, functionalities, or beliefs. One or both of them could need my services.

If one or both want to sell a house and I create a legal contract with them to list and sell the house, I would want to see the house and get the best value possible, which means showing the house to anyone who qualifies financially and is interested in that type of housing.

If one or both want to buy a house, and if I have a policy of asking people to prequalify financially, I would ask the prospective buyer to do that first. If I am truly acting without discrimination, I treat everyone equally. I find out what kind of housing is wanted and I try to show places that will work.

Basically, if we ignore the exceptions (housing for only those over 55 years of age, religious or private clubs, someone convicted of involvement with illegal drugs), it is not okay to treat someone differently when selling, buying, renting, leasing, etc., because of their family status, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, or physical or mental disability. The only way to differentiate people is on their "ability to pay" or for economic reasons.