The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601 et
seq., prohibits discrimination by direct providers of housing, such as
landlords and real estate companies as well as other entities, such as
municipalities, banks or other lending institutions and homeowners insurance
companies whose discriminatory practices make housing unavailable to persons
because of:
In
cases involving discrimination in mortgage loans or home improvement loans, the
Department may file suit under both the Fair Housing Act and the pattern or practice of discrimination or where a denial of rights to a
group of persons raises an issue of general public importance. Where force or
threat of force is used to deny or interfere with fair housing rights, the
Department of Justice may institute criminal proceedings.
The Fair Housing Act also provides procedures for
handling individual complaints of discrimination. Individuals who believe that
they have been victims of an illegal housing practice, may file a complaint
with theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] or file their own lawsuit in federal or state court.
The Department of Justice brings suits on behalf of individuals based on
referrals from HUD.
Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Race or Color
One of
the central objectives of the Fair Housing Act, when Congress enacted it in 1968, was to prohibit
race discrimination in sales and rentals of housing. Nevertheless, more than 30
years later, race discrimination in housing continues to be a problem. The
majority of the Justice Department's pattern or practice cases involve claims of race discrimination.
Sometimes, housing providers try to disguise their discrimination by giving
false information about availability of housing, either saying that nothing was
available or steering homeseekers to certain areas based on race. Individuals
who receive such false information or misdirection may have no knowledge that
they have been victims of discrimination. The Department of Justice has brought
many cases alleging this kind of discrimination based on race or color. In
addition, the Department's Fair Housing Testing Program seeks to uncover this kind of hidden discrimination
and hold those responsible accountable. Most 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 also alleged that municipalities and other
local government entities violated the Fair Housing Act when they denied
permits or zoning changes for housing developments, or relegated them to
predominantly minority neighborhoods, because the prospective residents were
expected to be predominantly African-Americans.
Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Religion
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based upon
religion. This prohibition covers instances of overt discrimination against
members of a particular religion as well less direct actions, such as zoning
ordinances designed to limit the use of private homes as a places of worship.
The number of cases filed since 1968 alleging religious discrimination is small
in comparison to some of the other prohibited bases, such as race or national origin. The Act does contain a limited exception that allows
non-commercial housing operated by a religious organization to reserve such
housing to persons of the same religion.
Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Sex, Including
Sexual Harassment
The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to discriminate in housing on the
basis of sex. In recent years, the Department's focus in this area has been to
challenge sexual harassment in housing. Women, particularly those who are poor,
and with limited housing options, often have little recourse but to tolerate
the humiliation and degradation of sexual harassment or risk having their
families and themselves removed from their homes. The Department's enforcement
program is aimed at landlords who create an untenable living environment by
demanding sexual favors from tenants or by creating a sexually hostile
environment for them. In this manner we seek both to obtain relief for tenants
who have been treated unfairly by a landlord because of sex and also deter
other potential abusers by making it clear that they cannot continue their
conduct without facing repercussions. In addition, pricing discrimination in
mortgage lending may also adversely affect women, particularly minority women.
This type of discrimination is unlawful 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 ancestors originated. Census data indicate that the
Hispanic population is the fastest growing segment of our nation's population.
The Justice Department has taken enforcement action against municipal
governments that have tried to reduce or limit the number of Hispanic families
that may live in their communities. We have sued lenders under both the Fair Housing Act and theEqual Credit Opportunity Act when they have imposed more stringent underwriting
standards on home loans or made loans on less favorable terms for Hispanic
borrowers. The Department has also sued lenders for discrimination against
Native Americans. Other areas of the country have experienced an increasing
diversity of national origin groups within their populations. This includes new
immigrants from Southeastern Asia, such as the Hmong, the former Soviet Union,
and other portions of Eastern Europe. We have taken action against private
landlords who have discriminated against such individuals.
Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Familial Status
The Fair Housing Act, with some exceptions, prohibits discrimination in
housing against families with children under 18. In addition to prohibiting an
outright denial of housing to families with children, the Act also prevents
housing providers from imposing any special requirements or conditions on
tenants with custody of children. For example, landlords may not locate
families with children in any single portion of a complex, place an unreasonable
restriction on the total number of persons who may reside in a dwelling, or
limit their access to recreational services provided to other tenants. In most
instances, the amended Fair Housing Act prohibits a housing provider from
refusing to rent or sell to families with children. However, some facilities
may be designated as Housing for Older Persons (55 years of age). This type of
housing, which meets the standards set forth in the Housing for Older Persons
Act of 1995, may operate as "senior" housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published regulations and additional guidance
detailing these statutory requirements.
Discrimination
in Housing Based Upon Disability
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in
all types of housing transactions. The Act defines persons with a disability to
mean those individuals with mental or physical impairments that substantially
limit one or more major life activities. The term mental or physical impairment
may include conditions such as blindness, hearing impairment, mobility
impairment, HIV infection, mental retardation, alcoholism, drug addiction,
chronic fatigue, learning disability, head injury, and mental illness. The term
major life activity may include seeing, hearing, walking, breathing, performing
manual tasks, caring for one's self, learning, speaking, or working. The Fair
Housing Act also protects persons who have a record of such an impairment, or
are regarded as having such an impairment. Current users of illegal controlled
substances, persons convicted for illegal manufacture or distribution of a
controlled substance, sex offenders, and juvenile offenders are not considered
disabled under the Fair Housing Act, by virtue of that status. The Fair Housing
Act affords no protections to individuals with or without disabilities who
present a direct threat to the persons or property of others. Determining
whether someone poses such a direct threat must be made on an individualized
basis, however, and cannot be based on general assumptions or speculation about
the nature of a disability. The Division's enforcement of the Fair Housing
Act's protections for persons with disabilities has concentrated on two major
areas. One is insuring that zoning and other
regulations concerning land use are not employed to hinder the residential choices of
these individuals, including unnecessarily restricting communal, or congregate,
residential arrangements, such as group homes. The second area is insuring that
newly constructed multifamily housing is built in accordance with the Fair
Housing Act's accessibility requirements so that it is accessible to and usable by people with
disabilities, and, in particular, those who use wheelchairs. There are other
federal statutes that prohibit discrimination against individuals with
disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, which is enforced
by the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division.
Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Disability Group
Homes
Some individuals
with disabilities may live together in congregate living arrangements, often
referred to as "group homes." The Fair Housing Act prohibits municipalities and other local government
entities from making zoning or land use decisions or implementing land use
policies that exclude or otherwise discriminate against individuals with
disabilities. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful --
- To
utilize land use policies or actions that treat groups of persons with
disabilities less favorably than groups of non-disabled persons. An
example would be an ordinance prohibiting housing for persons with
disabilities or a specific type of disability, such as mental illness,
from locating in a particular area, while allowing other groups of
unrelated individuals to live together in that area.
- To
take action against, or deny a permit, for a home because of the
disability of individuals who live or would live there. An example would
be denying a building permit for a home because it was intended to provide
housing for persons with mental retardation.
- To
refuse to make reasonable accommodations in land use and zoning policies
and procedures where such accommodations may be necessary to afford
persons or groups of persons with disabilities an equal opportunity to use
and enjoy housing. What constitutes a reasonable accommodation is a
case-by-case determination. Not all requested modifications of rules or
policies are reasonable. If a requested modification imposes an undue financial
or administrative burden on a local government, or if a modification
creates a fundamental alteration in a local government's land use and
zoning scheme, it is not a "reasonable" accommodation.
There has been a significant amount of
litigation concerning the ability of local governmental units to exercise
control over group living arrangements, particularly for persons with
disabilities. To provide guidance on these issues, the Departments of Justice
and Housing and Urban Development have issued a Joint Statement on Group
Homes, Local Land Use and the Fair Housing Act.
Discrimination in Housing Based Upon
Disability -- Accessibility Features for New Construction
The Fair Housing Act defines
discrimination in housing against persons with disabilities to include a
failure "to design and construct" certain new multi-family dwellings
so that they are accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities, and
particularly people who use wheelchairs. The Act requires all newly constructed
multi-family dwellings of four or more units intended for first occupancy after
March 13, 1991, to have certain features: an accessible entrance on an
accessible route, accessible common and public use areas, doors sufficiently
wide to accommodate wheelchairs, accessible routes into and through each
dwelling, light switches, electrical outlets, and thermostats in accessible
location, reinforcements in bathroom walls to accommodate grab bar
installations, and usable kitchens and bathrooms configured so that a
wheelchair can maneuver about the space.
Developers, builders, owners, and architects
responsible for the design or construction of new multi-family housing may be
held liable under the Fair Housing Act if their buildings fail to meet these
design requirements. The Department of Justice has brought many enforcement
actions against those who failed to do so. Most of the cases have been resolved
by consent decrees providing a variety of types of relief, including:
retrofitting to bring inaccessible features into compliance where feasible and
where it is not -- alternatives (monetary funds or other construction
requirements) that will provide for making other housing units accessible;
training on the accessibility requirements for those involved in the
construction process; a mandate that all new housing projects comply with the
accessibility requirements, and monetary relief for those injured by the
violations. In addition, the Department has sought to promote accessibility
through building codes.
No comments:
Post a Comment