Secure.gov websites use HTTPS A lock (Lock Locked padlock) or https:// indicates you've securely connected to the.gov site. Share sensitive information just on official, secure sites.

- About - The Attorney general of the United States

• Organizational Chart
• Budget & Performance
• History
• Privacy Program
  
  - Press Releases
• Speeches
• Videos
• Photo Galleries
• Blogs
• Podcasts
  
  - Guidance Documents
• Forms
• Publications
• Information for Victims in Large Cases
• Justice Manual
• Business and Contracts
  
  - Why Justice?
• Benefits
• DOJ Vacancies
• Legal Careers at DOJ
  
  Utilities
  
  - About About
  
  Our Work
  
  - Contact the Division Contact the Division
  
  Report a Violation
  
  - Cases and Matters
• Press Room Press Room
  
  Videos
  
  Publications
  
  - Employment Opportunities Employment Opportunities
  
  Experienced Professionals
  
  Attorney General ´ s Honors Program
  
  Volunteer and Paid Student Internship Programs
  
  - Civil Liberty FOIA Civil Liberty FOIA
  
  Emmett Till Act/Cold Case Memoranda
  
  - En español
  
  - About - title=" About" About
• The Chief law officer
• Organizational Chart
• Budget & Performance
• History
• Privacy Program
  
  - title=" News" News
• Press Releases
• Speeches
• Videos
• Photo Galleries
• Blogs
• Podcasts
  
  - title=" Guidance & Resources" Resources
• Guidance Documents
• Forms
• Publications
• Information for Victims in Large Cases
• Justice Manual
• Business and Contracts
  
  - Employment
• Why Justice?
• Benefits
• DOJ Vacancies
• Legal Careers at DOJ
  
  - Our Offices
• Find Help
• Contact Us
  
  Breadcrumb
  
  1. Justice.gov
• Civil Rights Division
• The Fair Housing Act
  
  The Fair Housing Act
  
  - Facebook
• X.
• LinkedIn.
• Email
  
  The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq., prohibits discrimination by direct providers of housing, such as property managers and real estate business as well as other entities, such as towns, banks or other financing institutions and house owners insurance business whose inequitable practices make housing unavailable to individuals since of:
  
  race or color. religion. sex. nationwide origin. familial status, or. impairment.
  
  In cases involving discrimination in mortgage loans or home improvement loans, the Department may submit fit 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 persons raises a problem of basic public significance. Where force or risk of force is utilized to reject or interfere with fair housing rights, the Department of Justice may set up criminal proceedings. The Fair Housing Act also supplies treatments for managing individual complaints of discrimination. Individuals who think that they have actually been victims of an illegal housing practice, might file a problem with the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] or submit their own suit in federal or state court. The Department of Justice brings suits on behalf of people based upon referrals from HUD.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Race or Color
  
  One of the main goals of the Fair Housing Act, when Congress enacted it in 1968, was to restrict race discrimination in sales and leasings of housing. Nevertheless, more than thirty years later, race discrimination in housing continues to be a problem. The bulk of the Justice Department's pattern or practice cases involve claims of race discrimination. Sometimes, housing service providers try to camouflage their discrimination by giving false information about availability of housing, either stating that nothing was offered or guiding homeseekers to specific locations based upon race. Individuals who receive such false details or misdirection may have no understanding that they have actually been victims of discrimination. The Department of Justice has actually brought many cases declaring this kind 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 accountable. The majority of the mortgage lending cases brought by the Department under the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act have alleged discrimination based on race or color. Some of the Department's cases have likewise alleged that municipalities and other regional government entities violated the Fair Housing Act when they denied licenses or zoning modifications for housing advancements, or relegated them to mainly minority areas, since the prospective citizens were anticipated to be primarily African-Americans.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Religion
  
  The Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination in housing based upon religious beliefs. This prohibition covers circumstances of obvious discrimination against members of a specific religion as well less direct actions, such as zoning ordinances created to restrict making use of private homes as a locations of praise. The number of cases submitted because 1968 alleging spiritual discrimination is small in contrast to some of the other prohibited bases, such as race or nationwide origin. The Act does consist of a restricted exception that allows non-commercial housing run by a religious organization to reserve such housing to persons of the very same faith.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Sex, Including Sexual Harassment
  
  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 actually been to challenge unwanted sexual advances in housing. Women, particularly those who are poor, and with minimal housing alternatives, often have little recourse but to endure the humiliation and destruction of unwanted sexual advances or risk having their households and themselves eliminated from their homes. The Department's enforcement program is aimed at property managers 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 get relief for renters who have actually been dealt with unjustly by a landlord due to the fact that of sex and likewise prevent other potential abusers by making it clear that they can not continue their conduct without facing effects. In addition, pricing discrimination in mortgage financing might also adversely affect ladies, particularly minority ladies. This type of discrimination is illegal under both the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon National Origin
  
  The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination based upon national origin. Such discrimination can be based either upon the country of an individual's birth or where his or her forefathers originated. Census information show that the Hispanic population is the fastest growing section of our nation's population. The Justice Department has taken enforcement action versus community governments that have actually tried to reduce or restrict the number of Hispanic families that might live in their communities. We have actually sued loan providers under both the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act when they have enforced more rigid underwriting standards on mortgage or made loans on less favorable terms for Hispanic debtors. The Department has also taken legal action against lending institutions for discrimination versus Native Americans. Other locations of the country have actually experienced an increasing variety of national origin groups within their populations. This includes brand-new immigrants from Southeastern Asia, such as the Hmong, the previous Soviet Union, and other portions of Eastern Europe. We have actually acted against personal landlords who have actually discriminated versus such people.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Familial Status
  
  The Fair Housing Act, with some exceptions, prohibits discrimination in housing versus families with children under 18. In addition to forbiding an outright denial of housing to families with children, the Act also prevents housing companies from enforcing any special requirements or conditions on renters with custody of children. For instance, proprietors may not find families with children in any single part of a complex, put an unreasonable limitation on the total variety of individuals who might live in a house, or limit their access to recreational services provided to other renters. In many circumstances, the amended Fair Housing Act prohibits a housing 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 stated in the Housing for Older Persons Act of 1995, may run as "senior" housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has actually published guidelines and additional guidance detailing these statutory requirements.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability
  
  The Fair Housing Act restricts discrimination on the basis of disability in all kinds of housing deals. The Act specifies persons with a special needs to suggest those individuals with psychological or physical problems that substantially restrict several significant life activities. The term psychological or physical problems may consist of conditions such as loss of sight, hearing problems, mobility problems, HIV infection, psychological retardation, alcoholism, drug addiction, persistent tiredness, discovering impairment, head injury, and mental disease. The term major life activity might consist of seeing, hearing, walking, breathing, performing manual jobs, taking care of one's self, discovering, speaking, or working. The Fair Housing Act also protects persons who have a record of such an impairment, or are considered having such a problems. Current users of prohibited controlled compounds, persons convicted for illegal manufacture or distribution of a controlled compound, sex wrongdoers, and juvenile transgressors are not considered disabled under the Fair Housing Act, by virtue of that status. The Fair Housing Act pays for no protections to people with or without specials needs who present a direct risk to the persons or residential or commercial property of others. Determining whether somebody presents such a direct danger should be made on a personalized basis, however, and can not be based on basic assumptions or speculation about the nature of a disability. The Division's enforcement of the Fair Housing Act's defenses for persons with specials needs has actually focused on 2 significant areas. One is insuring that zoning and other policies concerning land usage are not used to hinder the property options of these individuals, including needlessly limiting common, or gather, property arrangements, such as group homes. The 2nd location is insuring that freshly built multifamily housing is integrated in accordance with the Fair Housing Act's ease of access requirements so that it is available to and usable by people with disabilities, and, in specific, those who utilize wheelchairs. There are other federal statutes that prohibit discrimination versus individuals with impairments, consisting of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is enforced by the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Liberty Division.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability Group Homes
  
  Some individuals with disabilities may cohabit in congregate living arrangements, frequently described as "group homes." The Fair Housing Act prohibits municipalities and other city government entities from making zoning or land usage choices or implementing land use policies that leave out or otherwise victimize individuals with disabilities. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful--
  
  - To make use of land usage policies or that treat groups of individuals with impairments less positively than groups of non-disabled persons. An example would be a regulation forbiding housing for individuals with specials needs or a particular kind of disability, such as mental disorder, from locating in a specific area, while permitting other groups of unassociated people to live together in that area.
• To act against, or reject an authorization, for a home since of the disability of individuals who live or would live there. An example would be denying a structure license for a home due to the fact that it was intended to supply housing for individuals with mental retardation.
• To refuse to clear up accommodations in land usage and zoning policies and procedures where such accommodations might be essential to pay for individuals or groups of persons with impairments a level playing field to utilize and delight in housing. What makes up a sensible accommodation is a case-by-case determination. Not all requested modifications of rules or policies are affordable. If a requested modification imposes an unnecessary financial or administrative concern on a regional government, or if an adjustment develops a fundamental change in a regional government's land use and zoning plan, it is not a "reasonable" accommodation.
  
  Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability-- Accessibility Features for New Construction
  
  The Fair Housing Act specifies discrimination in housing versus individuals with impairments to consist of a failure "to design and construct" certain brand-new multi-family residences so that they are accessible to and functional by persons with specials needs, and especially individuals who use wheelchairs. The Act needs all recently built multi-family residences of 4 or more systems intended for first occupancy after March 13, 1991, to have particular features: an available entrance on an accessible path, available typical and public use locations, doors adequately wide to accommodate wheelchairs, accessible paths into and through each dwelling, light switches, electric outlets, and thermostats in accessible place, reinforcements in bathroom walls to accommodate grab bar installations, and functional bathroom and kitchens set up so that a wheelchair can steer about the area.
  
  Developers, builders, owners, and architects accountable for the design or construction of brand-new multi-family housing might be held liable under the Fair Housing Act if their structures fail to fulfill these style requirements. The Department of Justice has actually brought lots of enforcement actions against those who failed to do so. Most of the cases have actually been dealt with by consent decrees offering a variety of types of relief, consisting of: retrofitting to bring unattainable features into compliance where possible and where it is not-- options (financial funds or other construction requirements) that will attend to making other housing units available