Fair Housing

Fair housing means all persons have equal opportunity to be considered for rental units, purchase of property, housing loans, and property insurance.

The State Fair Housing Act (see also the Spanish version) makes it illegal to discriminate in housing because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, physical or mental handicaps, or family status (families with children).

Discrimination could be any of the following:

A property manager refuses to rent an apartment to a single women, but he will rent the apartment to a single man.

• A landlord refuses to rent an apartment to a blind woman because she has a Seeing Eye dog.
• A female tenant and her family are evicted from their apartment because the woman refuses the landlord's sexual advances.
• A landlord evicts a white tenant for her mobile home because her black friends visit her there.
• Set different terms, conditions, or privileges for the sale or rental of a dwelling.

The law applies to the sale, rental and financing of residential housing. Apartments, houses, mobile homes and even vacant lots to be used for housing are covered by the Fair Housing Act. With a few exceptions, anyone who has control over residential property and real estate financing must obey the law. This includes rental managers, property owners, real estate agents, landlords, banks, developers, builders and individual homeowners who are selling or renting their property.