What is the Fair Housing Act?

For both renters and homebuyers, knowing your rights under the Fair Housing Act can come in handy more often than you might think.

In 2023, people across the U.S. filed more than 30,000 complaints of discrimination and unfair treatment by landlords, insurers, mortgage lenders, city agencies, real estate companies and other housing providers, according to the National Fair Housing Alliance.

It’s estimated that millions more violations go unreported every year.

Let’s look at how the Fair Housing Act forbids discrimination based on race, religion, disabilities or other protected characteristics — and what you can do if you think you’ve experienced discrimination in a housing or home financing situation.

• Fair Housing Act: Basic facts
• What does housing discrimination look like?
• How to respond to housing discrimination
• Getting more help

Fair Housing Act: Basic facts

Here are the basics of the Fair Housing Act.

• The Fair Housing Act became law in 1968 as part of the Civil Rights Act.
• The law forbids discrimination in renting, mortgage lending and other housing-related activities based on these seven characteristics:
  • Race
  • Skin color
  • Religion
  • National origin (including language spoken)
  • Sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation)
  • Disabilities
  • Families with children
• The Fair Housing Act is federal law. There are also state or local fair housing laws in many states that may cover discrimination based on additional personal characteristics like your age and income source.

The Department of Justice’s Fair Housing Act page has details on the seven protected characteristics. The National Apartment Association’s Fair Housing Act page has an interactive map and links to individual state housing info and protections.

What does housing discrimination look like?

It’s impossible to list the countless scenarios or types of discrimination that can happen when you’re renting, looking for a place to buy or rent, or shopping for home financing.

But you can get some idea of the landscape from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s examples of housing discrimination, which include …

• Landlords denying applicants based on race or religion
• A real estate broker’s “steering” of a buyer to a neighborhood based on the buyer’s race
• Sexual harassment of a Section 8 tenant
• A condominium with insufficient disability access
• A landlord’s refusal to send rent notices to the mother of an impaired tenant so the mother could help manage rent payments
• Discriminatory rules against children at an apartment complex
• A bank rejecting home financing because of an applicant’s pregnancy
• Many types of LGBTQ+ housing discrimination related to same-sex couples, transgender homebuyers and same-sex applicants with children, to name a few.

How to respond to fair housing violations

Reporting to HUD

There is no cost to file a fair housing complaint with HUD.

HUD encourages you to report discrimination to HUD as soon as you can after any incident. The time limit to file a complaint with HUD is one year from the last date of the alleged discrimination.

You can file three ways:

• Online in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Arabic, Russian, Khmer and Somali
• By phone at 1-800-669-9777
• By mail to your regional Fair Housing/Equal Opportunity office (FHEO)

Be prepared to provide …

1. Your name and address
2. The name and address of the person(s) or organization your allegation is against
3. The address or other identification of the housing or program involved
4. A short description of the event(s) that cause you to believe your rights were violated
5. The date(s) of the alleged violation

Reporting to your local fair housing agency

Another option for reporting discrimination is to contact your state’s Fair Housing Assistance Program agency, if your state has one.

What happens after you file a fair housing complaint?

According to HUD, the FHEO will begin investigating “shortly” after you file. Generally, from there …

• The FHEO will pursue the investigation or refer it to another agency.
• The FHEO may try to help the disputing parties reach an agreement.
• If it’s not resolved, the FHEO may issue findings from its investigation.
• If the law has been violated, HUD or the Department of Justice may take legal action.

You can get more detail on HUD’s site about the FHEO complaint investigation process.

Getting more help

Fighting for your rights in a housing or mortgage lending situation can be scary.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or want to reach out for more help, HUD recommends contacting one of its Fair Housing Initiative Program organizations in your state. An advocate might be able to speak to a housing provider on your behalf, investigate the situation to help nail down any discrimination that may have happened, or give you more info or other help.